Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz

Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz (1963 – 26 July 2011) was a crime reporter who had worked for nearly three decades for Notiver, She was kidnapped on July 24, 2011, and her corpse was found beheaded two days later in the neighboring port town of Boca del Río. The crime remains unsolved with no charges brought and different hypotheses in existence. The general attorney of the state of Veracruz, Reynaldo Escobar, said that the investigation was considering the alleged relationship of some journalists with organized crime. Notiver saw these declarations as a menace to journalists and linked the slaying to Ordaz's investigation of the murder of three colleagues a month earlier. On July 20, Notiver crime columnist Miguel Ángel López Velasco, his wife and their son Miseal López Solana, who also worked at Notiver as a crime photographer, were murdered in their home. In 2012 drug trafficking related violence increased in Veracruz, including the murder of Proceso'''s journalist Regina Martínez in April and the killing of four media professionals in May, including Guillermo Luna Varela, who had been colleague of Ordaz at Notiver.

The state of Veracruz faces crime primarily from Los Zetas drug cartel. Since early 2010, there have been multiple shootings and gunfights which have taken place as part of the territorial fight between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. Just a week before her death, Ordaz had questioned Escobar about the lack of results in the investigation about her colleagues' murders. At the time of her own murder, she was looking into her co-workers' deaths.

Death Yolanda Ordaz received several letters with death threats before she was killed. The journalist was reported missing by her relatives on the night of Saturday July 23, 2011. She had told them she was going out to cover a story and never returned home. had been signaled by the general attorney as the main suspect of the murder of the family López Velasco. also published similar allegations in his column. Notiver'' publicly requested the resignation of Escobar for these declarations. Additionally, two accusatory videos were published anonymously on the internet, mentioning Ordaz as a mediator for Los Zetas. Other journalists speaking anonymously told McClatchy that López and Ordaz may have been passing information to military intelligence and had been killed by crime gangs in vengeance.

The reporting community demanded a thorough investigation of the deaths of their fellow employees so as to bring their killers to justice.

Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova said, "The latest case in an increasing global trend of women journalists being targeted, which I am deeply concerned about. It is essential that the authorities investigate the alarming number of attacks on reporters in Veracruz and bring their culprits to justice."