Raúl Gibb Guerrero

Raúl Gibb Guerrero (1952 – 8 April 2005) was a Mexican editor and the founder and owner of the newspaper La Opinión in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico. Gibb was murdered in Veracruz and was awarded "2005-2006 International Editors of the Year" by WorldPress.org. His newspaper had already won awards for his coverage of corruption.

Norma Gibb Guerrero became the owner of La Opinión after Raúl Gibb's murder and she was appointed to the Veracruz State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists by Governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa in June 2007.

Career Raúl Gibb was the editor and owner of the La Opinión. Gibb and two other Mexican editors, Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla and Alfredo Jiménez Mota, were awarded editors of the year for 2005-2006 by WorldPress.org. For several months, Gibb had been receiving death threats for his newspaper's coverage of corruption and connections between drug cartels and the government. He had received two threats one day before the attack. Authorities said they had assigned 60 investigators to Gibb's case,

Context The first journalist killed in 2005 was Gibb. One of those journalist was Alfredo Jiménez Mota. Alfredo Jiménez Mota worked for El Imparcial of Hermosillo. Mota is presumed to be dead after his disappearance on April 2, 2005, which was just six days after the death of Gibb.

Impact According to Secretary General of Government, Reynaldo Escobar Perez, Veracruz was affected by the "cockroach effect" of drug traffickers that are fought in other Mexican states. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the press freedom organization Reporters Without Border, in addition to others, have voiced outrage at two other recent acts of violence against the Mexican press, speaking of a deterioration in press freedom in the country.

Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the governor of Veracruz, sent a bill to the local Congress to create the State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists, which is an independent body that is responsible for the care and ensures personal integrity of the many journalists in the state. This bill would also promote and protect the right to protect the right to information and freedom of expression. Duarte said

"... media and journalists covering, face and often suffer the effects of this phenomenon, whose seal is violence, through which it intends to submit to the institutions and undermine the rule of law. As a citizen and as president, I know that the best way of dealing with problems is to recognize them and act accordingly."