René Orta Salgado

Personal Renee Orta Salgado, 43, killed on May 13, 2012. He had two children with his first wife and a girlfriend. While working as a reporter, he was able to earn his law degree.

Death René Orta Salgado was last seen talking to people at a local bar late Friday and early Saturday morning. Orta's family first reported him missing Saturday, May 12, 2012, and the search began after noon. The next day, Orta's corpse was found at 4 p.m. stuffed in his gray Nissan Murano car trunk on Del Hueso street, in the Buena Vista neighborhood of Cuernavaca. His corpse showed signs from beatings, stab wounds, as well as signs being choked to death, but no gunshot wounds. The vehicle in which his body was found also showed no signs of bullet wounds or struggle. No message was found near the killing, which is a typical sign of a drug-related crime. The official cause of death was from stabbing, asphyxia, and strangulation.

Context Around the time Orta was appointed state coordinator for the Emprendedores Por la Nacion, the PRI party had won an important election in the state of Mexico around Mexico City. Orta was killed a month and a half before the July 1 general election of 2012 between PRI candidate Enrique Peno Nieto and President Felipe Calderón's successor. It was an election seen as a test of Calderon's drug war policies.

Reactions René Orta Salgado was killed a day before a UN meeting about impunity. Margaret Sekaggya, the UN Special Rapporteur, said, "Human rights defenders in Mexico desperately need the State's effective protection now. They continue to suffer killings, attacks, harassment, threats, stigmatization and other serious human rights violations."

Journalists from around the country signed a petition that his murder be investigated.