What is The Cartel Project? Thanks for asking!

In early December, the Forbidden Stories consortium unveiled The Cartel Project, which continues and publishes the work of other journalists who are victims of threats, prison sentences or murder.

It takes its name from the work of Mexican journalist Regina Martinez, who was killed in 2012 while investigating links between drug cartels and politicians. Martinez was working for a weekly investigative news magazine called Proceso when she was found dead in her home.

For several months now, 60 journalists from 18 countries have been continuing her work as part of the project, and looking into the suspicious circumstances of her death. They come from 25 different media outlets, including the Washington Post, the Guardian, El Pais, La Prensa and Le Monde.

That’s impressive! How have all these media outlets managed to work together?

Everything has been coordinated by Forbidden Stories. It’s a global network of investigative journalists which was created in 2017. Forbidden Stories was also behind the Daphne project, named after Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was murdered in Malta that year.

But let’s get back to The Cartel Project. 199 journalists have been killed in Mexico since the turn of the century, with eight victims this year. These figures make it the world’s most dangerous country for reporters. A large proportion of these crimes are committed in the Veracruz region, where drug cartels have a strong influence. 

Working on links between politicians and drug cartels in Mexico is certainly a dangerous business. Founder Laurent Richard has gone on record as saying the Cartel Project is the most dangerous investigation that Forbidden Stories has ever opened.

After 10 months of work, a lot of information has come out, in particular evidence that Mexican drug cartels continue to prosper with impunity for crimes against journalists. It has emerged that 99% of such crimes against Mexican journalists are never solved. 

If it’s so dangerous, why is the project looking into Mexico in particular? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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