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The Mexican Border Newspaper That Died With Its Star Reporter

4 minute read

For 27 years, Mexican newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez employed over 125 journalists and a team of a dozen photographers to cover life in the border city of Juarez.

The lives of the newspaper’s journalists were often threatened, but the assassination of Miroslava Breach was a horror too far. The senior reporter was shot dead as she pulled her car out of her garage with one of her kids inside. A sign was left at the crime scene that read “tattletale.”

After 27 years of service, its founder Oscar Cantu had had enough. “We have 99.95% impunity in Mexico. I realized if we keep doing what we are doing we are not going to get results.” Cantu felt he could no longer guarantee the safety of his journalists, and without that security they could no longer safely conduct critical journalism. So he closed down both the print and digital publications of the regional newspaper. “I closed in protest,” he says.

NORTE DE JUAREZ 20 DE DICIEMBRE DEL 2010. Personal del servicio medico forense llevaron acabo la inhumancion de 33 cuerpos (24 masculinos.1 femenina y 8 fetos) que perdieron la vida en diferentes circustancias y no fueron reclamados por familiares, fueron sepultados en fosas individuales en el panteon San Rafael .Foto /JosŽ Luis Gonz‡lez / Norte.
A forensics team carries coffins of identified bodies to a mass grave.JosŽ Luis Gonz‡lez—Norte

Over a long career, Miroslava had reported on organized crime, corruption and human rights issues for La Journada, a national newspaper and Norte de Juarez. Cantu worked closely with Breach throughout her career. “I truly believe we lost one of the best journalists that we had in the state of Chihuaua” he tells TIME. “It was a very clear message, she was a strategic target. I have never been so emotionally touched as I had regarding Miroslava. I believe I was the last person that she talked to the night before.”

In 1990, Cantu moved his paper from Chihuaua City to Juarez because he felt the citizens there needed a voice. “To defend ourselves against politicians there is no better tool than public opinion.” At the time of Norte’s closure, its distribution had grown to 35,000, becoming the largest newspaper in Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state. It employed 300 people including 125 journalists.

Norte had a dozen staff photographers, but was down to only a few when it closed. Juan Carlos Hernández López, a photographer and graphic reporter for the paper was on the team covering Miroslava’s death. During their reporting, they say they were followed by at least four people who were taking pictures of them and asking locals about their reporting.

López also spoke to TIME about less subtle encounters that he claimed happened regularly. Last August, as he covered the divorce proceedings of a business magnate Juan was pushed to the ground by one of the guards. He was then offered 60,000 pesos (approximately $3,200) to delete the photograph he had succeeded in taking, López says. Instead, Norte published the photo the next day.

The border wall between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso Tx.Manuel Sáenz--- Norte Ciudad Juárez

The worldwide reaction to the paper’s closure surprised even Cantu. “For almost 10 days. From all parts of the world. The secretary of the interior came to visit that they were going to do everything they could to get the criminals. I haven’t seen any results from them.”

Despite closing the publication, Cantu still employs the majority of the newsroom to work on important projects that they had begun before Norte closed. “These are stories that don’t really have a deadline. There are one or two stories that are very interesting and we’re trying to figure out what we can do to get them out.”

Cantu is hoping to find a way to reopen the newspaper as a community project. It is unclear where exactly the funding will come from, but he hopes the local population it has helped to keep informed for all of these years will help to keep Norte — and its tradition of reporting — alive.

Josh Raab is a multimedia editor at TIME. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Boys climb the Mexico-US border wall on the Mexico side.Hérika Martínez Prado—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
The Mexico-US border wall from the Mexico side.Hérika Martínez Prado—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
ciudad juarez chihuahua 25 abril 2012EJECUTADO EN CAMINO REAL U HUAJUTLA FRENTE AL CERRO DE LA BIBLIA,,,, EN LA COLONIA GUSTAVO DIAZ ORDAZ,,, SEGUN DICEN PERTENECIA A LOS AZTECAS POR LOR TATUAJES QUE TENIA,,, DE APROX, 35 A 40 AÑOS,,,,,LO BAJAN DE UN AUTO Y LE DISPARAN DAYER
A man executed on the road to Camino Real, on the outskirts of Juárez. Héctor Dayer—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
Pesquisas de mujeres desaparecidas en el exterior de la Ficalia en Ciudad Juárez.Foto/José Luis González/Norte
A young girl surveys posters of women who have disappeared outside on Ficalia in Juárez.José Luis González—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
NORTE DE JUAREZ 20 DE DICIEMBRE DEL 2010. Personal del servicio medico forense llevaron acabo la inhumancion de 33 cuerpos (24 masculinos.1 femenina y 8 fetos) que perdieron la vida en diferentes circustancias y no fueron reclamados por familiares, fueron sepultados en fosas individuales en el panteon San Rafael .Foto /José Luis González / Norte.
A forensics team buries an unidentified bodies in a mass grave.José Luis González—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
Como desde hace 13 años, el vía crucis del Viernes Santo se llevo a cabo en el surponiente de la ciudad, entre la multitud el joven que por primera ocasión representa a Jesús, pidió envío un mensaje a los creyentes, a despertar en la fe, que no vean esto sólo como un espectáculo, mientras que el Vicario de la parroquia Santa María, reflexionaba en torno a cada uno de las estaciones a darle la espalda a la violencia a ejemplo de Jesús. Nuevamente Santa María recibe entre sus calles esta representación, que cada año, encuentra la misma tierra, pavimento roto y rezagos, i6 de abril del 2012 en Ciudad Juárez. Foto /José Luis González/Norte
Secuirty personell oversees Good Friday celebrations in Juarez in April, 2012. José Luis González—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
ESTUDIANTES DEL CBTIS 269, REGRESAN DE LA ESCUELA EN SU BICICLETA, POR LA CALLE LORETO.
Students return from school on their bike in Juarez.Manuel Saenz—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
A family in one of the colonies of northwest Juárez.Ryan Miller—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
colocan la cruz del migrante en la rampa que subira el papa francisco,  en la orilla dl rio bravo donde dara un mensaje a los migrantes
A cross where where Pope Francis held a mass overlooking the Rio Bravo in Dec. 2016.Héctor Dayer—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
The border wall between Mexico and El Paso, Texas is painted in the Anapra neighborhood outside Ciudad Juarez. A group of local artists decided to paint the wall blue to contrast the sky as part of the "Under the same sky" project. Manuel Sáenz—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
El papa Francisco, saluda a los catolicos de Juarez, cerca del seminario conciliar en Gomez Morin.
Hundreds of residents greet Pope Francis during his visit to Juarez in Feb. 2016. Carlos Hernandez—Norte de Ciudad Juarez
Residents gathered in the Samalayuca Dune Fields in Chihuaua during an attempt to break the Guiness World Record for the most people using telescopes at a time. Hérika Martínez—Norte de Ciudad Juarez

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