A Mexicali Journalist denounced alleged harassment from unknown sources after reporting on advertising expenditure
A Mexicali journalist released a public letter in which she denounces harassment in social media.
In the letter sent to Governor Marina Avila and Mexicali Mayor Norma Bustamante, reporter Dianeth Pérez Arreola said for the last couple of weeks several messages and defamatory texts have been spread in fake profiles disguised as news media outlets.
The messages show facts of Pérez Arreola’s private life in order to damage her reputation as a journalist, the letter reads.
Those messages are an alleged response to the journalist’s job with Brújula News and other media outlets.
The reporter has unveiled advertising expenditures by the City of Mexicali, the state Public Utilities Commission of Mexicali, and the state Assembly.
Although that information is supposed to be public, the journalist has had issues in order to gather documents and contracts, while public information officers have attempted to deny requests.
In the letter, signed by over two dozen colleagues, Pérez Arreola calls officials to stop personal attacks that affect the freedom of the press.
Journalists also called readers to report these fake profiles on social media and stop sharing content.
The reporters ask the state to work in order to stop these attacks on the freedom of the press in such a low manner.
The levels of freedom of speech in the state mirror the respect for the freedom of journalists from the government, the letter reads.
Kidnapped immigrants guard sentenced
A man who was arrested seven years ago while guarding a group of kidnapped immigrants was sentenced by a state judge to 50 years in prison.
The state Attorney General’s office said Fernando Carlos Catalán Valencia was convicted and sentenced for aggravated kidnapping.
Catalán Valencia was arrested on Dec. 13, 2016, in a residence located in the Colonia Huertas del Colorado area.
The convicted man and several co-conspirators took three immigrants to the house in order to cross them irregularly to the US.
However, the kidnappers threatened the victims with firearms.
The kidnappers took the immigrants’ belongings and tied them by their hands and feet.
Catalán Valencia and the minor were in charge of keeping an eye on the victims.
The agency said the victims were assaulted and forced to dial family members to pay for their release under threats of seeing their fingers amputated or killed.
Relatives pay up to $8,000 USD, the agency said.
Eventually, the immigrants were released by state troopers with the Anti-Kidnapping Unit.
Fentanyl use on the rise
A state official said fentanyl use among drug consumers is on the rise.
State Coroner’s office Director César Raúl González told La Voz newspaper this year three out of every four bodies have reportedly been positive for fentanyl.
Last year, fentanyl was the second most-used drug among consumers.
The agency started investigating fentanyl use back in July in order to determine how many people have died after consuming such a drug.
Last year, 49 percent of bodies were positive for drugs with 33 percent on fentanyl.
Most of the victims were male 31-35 years of age, González told the newspaper.
Beginning in 2023, the agency has tested all bodies for drugs.
Hijo Pródigo Rehabilitation Center manager Santiago Raygoza told the newspaper the drug was first detected in Mexicali six years ago.
Raygoza said most of those admitted to the center consume methamphetamine, which is mixed with fentanyl.
The drug, which has caused dozens of thousands of deaths in the US is way stronger than morphine and makes consumers unconscious for up to 10 minutes.
The newspaper said producing fentanyl is less expensive than other drugs and smugglers obtain higher returns.
Baja California Psychiatric Institute Director Víctor Salvador Rico told the newspaper consuming over two milligrams of fentanyl leads to overdosing.
Rico said while the most consumed drug in Baja California is methamphetamine, fentanyl is the most lethal.
According to state Secretary of Public Safety Leopoldo Aguilar, fentanyl seizures increased to 415 kilograms this year from 187 kilograms in 2022 — a 220 percent increase.
Since December, the Mexicali Police Department has seized 21,200 fentanyl pills.
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