NUEVO LAREDO, Tamaulipas — An unknown assailant murdered a Mexican journalist in front of his daughter and grandson. His death marks the first murder of a journalist this year in Tamaulipas and the second murder of a journalist in Mexico since the start of 2018. The two murders took place only 8 days apart.

The murder took place in the downtown area of Nuevo Laredo near the intersection of Morelos and Venezuela streets when Carlos Dominguez Rodriguez was traveling in a car with his daughter and grandson. Authorities have not released details as to how the murder took place. State authorities began an investigation into the murder and to confirm if the murder was tied to his work as a journalist.

The late writer worked as an independent journalist who worked for El Diario de Nuevo Laredo for several years. After leaving the outlet Dominguez Rodriguez began to work on his own writing for various print and online outlets. He strictly wrote about politics and was often critical of government officials. In his last column, Dominguez wrote about the violence that has taken over Mexico in advance of the upcoming elections in 2018.

The city of Nuevo Laredo, where the murder took place, is under the control of the Cartel del Noreste (CDN) a splinter of what at one time was Los Zetas Cartel. The CDN has set themselves apart by their use of violence and threats to control local news outlets in order to keep them from reporting on the crimes carried out by the cartel.

Dominguez’s Rodriguez’s murder comes just 8 days after the murder of Jose Gerardo Martinez, an editor for Mexico’s El Universal, who died while buying presents near Mexico City, Breitbart Texas reported.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Francisco Morales” and “A.C. Del Angel” from Tamaulipas.