Jesús Blancornelas

J. Jesús Blancornelas (November 14, 1936 – November 23, 2006) After his death, the Los Angeles Times and the Committee to Protect Journalists described him as "the spiritual godfather of modern Mexican journalism." Blancornelas began his career as a journalist for El Sol de San Luis in April 1955, working as a sportswriter. In 1960, he moved to Tijuana, Baja California, where he became active in reporting on corruption and the drug trade. He was promoted to news editor at the daily newspaper El Mexicano before moving to the daily La Voz de la Frontera, of which he became editor-in-chief. #tag:ref|However, another source says he was fired from five newspapers. two guards from the Agua Caliente Racetrack were later convicted of the murder. He also published a full-page ad in every issue under Félix's "byline", asking the employer of the Agua Caliente Racetrack guards, Tijuana politician Jorge Hank Rhon, why Félix Miranda had been assassinated. In the days after Ortiz's death, he stated, "I feel remorse for having created Zeta. After losing three colleagues, I believe the price has been too high. I would have liked to retire a long time ago ... [but] I cannot allow drug traffickers to think that they were able to crush Zeta's spirit, and our readers to believe that we are afraid." Blancornelas was nearly killed when the attackers opened fire on his car, wounding him in the abdomen and killing his driver and bodyguard, Luis Valero Elizalde, who died protecting him and managed to kill one of the shooters. Blancornelas suffered complications from the injury for the rest of his life. In the attack, Blancornelas' car was hit more than 180 times, but only four bullets penetrated the journalist's body. Elizalde, however, was hit 38 times. That same year, three other prominent journalists were killed in Mexico.

The nature of Blancornelas' work forced him to live under a "self-imposed home arrest," only traveling to his workplace and home with multiple Special Forces bodyguards from the Mexican Army, who accompanied him everywhere. While previous attacks on journalists received little coverage, Blancornelas' assassination attempt made it to the frontpage of most newspapers in Mexico, and was covered on the television and radio. The attempt also fueled interest internationally; the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, and the National Public Radio covered it extensively. Due to the public outcry, the Mexican authorities decided to report the attack to the Office of the General Prosecutor, which had greater resources than the state authorities.

After spending 20 days in the hospital, Blancornelas recovered from his wounds and returned to publishing for the Zeta magazine.

The Blancornelas family erected a huge brick wall in their one-story house to increase their security measures; outside the house, a squadron of military men guarded the family, while some others protected the Zeta offices. As of 1998, the top editors of the newspaper, along with Blancornelas' three sons, were under guard by the authorities at all times.

Marco Arturo Quiñones Sánchez, whom Mexican authorities alleged to be a hit man for the Tijuana Cartel, was later charged with being one of the gunmen in the attack on Blancornelas, but was found not guilty by a judge in 2013.

Death In the last years of his life, Blancornelas lived as a virtual prisoner, always accompanied by an escort of fifteen armed guards. Blancornelas was taken to the hospital on November 19 after his son confessed that his father had a lung defect that dated back to his youth. Prior to his death, Blancornelas stopped reporting directly for the Zeta magazine since February 2006 but still sent information to the magazine, particularly on issues covering drug trafficking.

Beginning to doubt Zeta s ability to foster change, Blancornelas considered closing the magazine with his death. Editor Adela Navarro Bello and Blancornelas's son, César René Blanco Villalón, however, persuaded him to let the magazine continue and succeeded him as its co-publishers.

Just before his death, Blancornelas speculated that the Tijuana Cartel had placed a US$250,000 bounty on his assassination, and publicly declared his desire to interview Enedina Arellano Félix, a female drug lord of the cartel, to confirm the information.

While Blancornelas' reporting helped bring some drug lords to justice, the Mexican drug trafficking organizations grew more powerful after his death. As he said in an interview shortly before dying:

Awards In 1996, he was one of four winners of the US-based CPJ International Press Freedom Awards, which honor journalists who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment. He also won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize of Columbia University and was honored as the International Editor of the Year by the World Press Review in 1998. Blancornelas was also UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 1999. In 2000 he was named one of the Austria-based International Press Institute's fifty World Press Freedom Heroes of the previous fifty years.

El Periodista ("The Journalist"), a corrido (ballad) in memory of Blancornelas, was written by members of the band Los Tucanes de Tijuana.

Zeta and Blancornelas are profiled in the Bernardo Ruiz documentary Reportero.

In popular culture

The character of Ramón Salgado, played by Alex Furth in season three of Narcos: Mexico, is loosely based on Jesús Blancornelas.

Published works by Jesús Blancornelas

"The Cartel: The Arellano Félix: The Most Powerful Mafia in the History of Latin America."