For 23 years, Antonio de la Cruz joined the newspaper’s team of reporters. Express, of the news media with the highest circulation in the state. There he covered the community source, field and, lately, the topics focused on the problems suffered by the inhabitants of Victoria: drought and water shortages.
At least in that media outlet he never covered the security source. However, according to his colleagues, Toño was characterized by his courage and in his personal networks he was always critical of the rulers and politicians, exhibited alleged cases of corruption and, on some occasions, reported on situations of risk that occurred in the state.
“Reporter forged in the street. Old guard, good friend and professional.” This is how friends and colleagues remember the twelfth journalist killed so far this year.
The communicator was attacked in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, outside his home. He was accompanied by his daughter, who was injured in the attack.
Toño de la Cruz, as he was known among his friends, had a career of almost 30 years in the media. His beginnings were in La Voz de Tula, a local newspaper in the Tamaulipas highlands.
In 1999, he joined the team of reporters of the newspaper Expreso.
De la Cruz specialized in covering issues focused on the environment, community conflicts and water shortages in the municipalities of the state. Although he did not formally cover the security source, the journalist used his social media to criticize local politicians and the state government.
The fugitive Mayor of @carlospenaortiz governs #Reynosa from his home in Mission, Texas. https://t.co/hbqqVrvoIS
— Antonio De La Cruz (@tonypresss) June 29, 2022
On his Twitter account, he exhibited alleged cases of corruption and sometimes reported on situations of risk; it also received complaints and denunciations from the public. It reported road accidents and gave useful information such as vaccination schedules, data on the delivery of social support, health campaigns, among other topics.
If you pass outside the ISSSTE clinic in #CdVictoria #Tamaulipas be careful because they have people who have symptoms of #Covid_19 in the gardens.
They are already desperate because they are not treated by doctors. pic.twitter.com/BIAYyUZ3eH
— Antonio De La Cruz (@tonypresss) June 27, 2022
His peers describe him as a good friend and companion, a quiet man who didn’t get into trouble and passionate about his work.
“Toño was always a good colleague and journalist. Very reserved, but always supportive and willing to help you. He loved his work and mastered the subject of the countryside and what is related to the environment,” recalled Perla Reséndez, a colleague of the journalist.
Since 2014, he served as state secretary of Social Communication of the Citizen Movement party. He was also press chief of the local deputy Gustavo Cárdenas Gutiérrez, as well as coordinator of his different campaigns.
Antonio de la Cruz, the third in Tamaulipas
Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, governor of Tamaulipas, condemned the murder of the journalist and reported that the prosecutor of the entity, Irving Barrios Mojica, already has some lines of investigation regarding the motive of the crime, which could be announced in the coming hours.
Antonio de la Cruz is the third journalist killed in the six-year term of Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca. In January 2018, columnist Carlos Domínguez, who worked for Diario de Nuevo Laredo and El Horizonte de Matamoros, was stabbed and beaten to death.
In May, also in 2018, in Ciudad Victoria, journalist Héctor González Antonio, correspondent for Grupo Imagen and Excélsior, was murdered; he also worked as a reporter for El Diario de Victoria. It covered the security source.
Faced with this situation, the journalistic guild of the entity called for a march on June 30 to demand that the authorities justice in the cases of the murdered communicators and that Toño’s crime does not remain in impunity.
Journalism in Mexico
So far this year, 12 communicators have been killed.
International organizations and organizations in favor of press freedom warn that for years Mexico has been the most dangerous country in the world to practice journalism.
The civil organization Article 19 pointed out that the government of Mexico must admit the crisis of violence and implement urgent measures to protect freedom of expression.
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