A federal senator from Mexico’s ruling party MORENA has come under political fire after directly threatening a journalist who exposed the cartel connections and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into a fellow senator from the same party. The outed senator is currently running for governor of the border state of Baja California.
The controversy began this week, when news anchor Enrique Acevedo from the TV network NMas+ aired a special report showing that Mexican Senator Julieta Ramirez had signed a proffer agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an investigation into cartel-connected politicians. Ramirez had previously been singled out as one of the numerous politicians from the MORENA party who had their visas revoked by the U.S. Department of State over alleged cartel connections.
The political conflict escalated when MORENA Senator Luis Fernando Salazar took to social media to defend his colleague and threaten Acevedo. In the now-deleted tweet, Salazar implied that Acevedo had been bribed or received a “chayote” and added “vamos a ir tras de ti” (We are coming for you).
X.com Screenshot (Now Deleted)
Acevedo used his news outlet to call out the threat and state that threats from politicians are concerning in a country like Mexico where journalists are routinely targeted, attacked, and killed “for doing their job.”
In response to the backlash, Salazar deleted his tweet and posted several messages apologizing for the post, saying he believes in freedom of expression.
In the NMas+ report, investigated and written by Alejandra Barriguete and Luis Villegas, the journalists showed images of the proffer agreement in which the politician allegedly agreed to provide information in exchange for preferential treatment from U.S. prosecutors as part of an ongoing federal investigation.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.