Matt Sanchez

FoxNews.com

Like dozens of other Mexican journalists in recent years, Evaristo Ortega Zárate, who covered rival drug traffickers, criticized the inaction of local authorities and investigated politicians, simply vanished.Evaristo Ortega Zárate, a journalist in Veracruz, Mexico, was an ace at reporting details. He covered rival drug traffickers, criticized the inaction of local authorities and investigated politicians. Thanks to his efforts, his paper, Espacio, grew from a local weekly to a statewide presence.

But the focus of Ortega’s writing changed this year. “They’ve arrested us,” he wrote in a desperate text message. “They have made us get into a police car.”

And those were the last words he wrote. Like dozens of other Mexican journalists in recent years, Evaristo Ortega Zárate simply vanished.

The life of a journalist has never been easy in Mexico, a country noted for its one-party rule, corruption and lawlessness. But in recent years, since President Felipe Calderon challenged the control of drug cartels that “sought to rule the nation,” practicing journalism has become a deadly occupation.

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