Journalists Killed in 2016 - Motive Unconfirmed: Moisés Dagdug Lutzow
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 31 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Journalists Killed in 2016 - Motive Unconfirmed: Moisés Dagdug Lutzow, 31 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586e043ef.html [accessed 3 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Moisés Dagdug Lutzow
Grupo VX
February 20, 2016, in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
Moisés Dagdug Lutzow, who owned media company Grupo VX, was stabbed to death in his home in Villahermosa, in the Mexican state of Tabasco, on February 20, 2016, according to press reports. Dagdug also hosted a weekly program for the company's television station TVX.
Assailants stabbed Dagdug before fleeing in the journalist's vehicle, later abandoning the vehicle and a knife that may have been used in the attack next to a highway roughly 15 kilometers away, according to local news reports. Witnesses said they saw two individuals flee from the vehicle, according to reports.
Angel Antonio Jiménez, news director at Grupo VX, told CPJ he was at the station's offices across the street from Dagdug's home when he heard a loud noise, Dagdug's vehicle crashing through the closed gate at his home, at around 7 a.m. on the day Dagdug was killed. Jiménez told CPJ he called the police and Dagdug's sister almost immediately. He said security-camera footage showed two men driving Dagdug's vehicle through the gate as they fled, and that investigators now had a copy of this tape.
The Tabasco State Attorney General's Office on February 20 released a statement saying it was investigating the murder. A representative from that office told CPJ that those in charge of the investigation could not immediately comment on the case.
Dagdug, who presented the weekly news analysis program "De Frente a Tabasco" (Facing Tabasco), reported on local politics and sensitive social issues, including a recent spate of violence and vigilante killings in Tabasco, Jiménez told CPJ. In a January 5 episode, Dagdug denounced threats he said he had received for his reporting. He said politicians in Tabasco were not used to criticism but vowed that he would continue to do his work, without fear.
Jiménez told CPJ that as far as he knew, Dagdug had not formally reported those threats to authorities. He also said that the Dagdug's house was broken into twice last year, and that laptops and other electronics had been taken. As a result of those break-ins, Jimenez said, Dagdug had increased security precautions in his home.
Dagdug had also been a member of Mexico's House of Representatives with the Party of the Democratic Revolution from 2006-2009.
Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.
