J. A. Brambila documents and provides statical data about the country of Mexico and the mass killings of journalist throughout the country. For the author’s first main point he specifies the relationship of journalist their risk of being murdered and how violence in a society affects that. Brambila suggests that journalists are at greatest risk of death in states with higher levels of violent deaths per population like Chihuahua, Guerrero, and Sinaloa. Brambila comes to the conclusion that the killings are related to criminal activity such as the drug cartels. Journalists trying to expose the secrets of the drug traffickers. The killings also tie into political violence as the journalist tries to undercover corrupt government officials and police officers. The risk of a journalist being killed increases depending in the state the journalist is located in. States with a higher number of human rights violations tend to have more murders of journalist that are trying to expose those human right violations.
J. A. Brambila holds a bachelors in communication from the Panamerican University and a masters in political science from El Colegio de México. From 2012 to 2013 he taught political science at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. In 2012 he created a team to research the political communication during the federal elections in Mexico. With the author’s dense background of Mexican politics, it is clear why Brambila uses so much statistical data and charts throughout the journal. For a reader, this journal will provide them with great information about why more killings occur more in certain states in Mexico than others. While reading the data can be quite dense there is so much that a reader can see the correlations between the sets of data. It all ties together the mass murder of journalists, high levels of social violence, violations of human rights, and low democratic development.
For my own research this journal provides an excellent source of hard data provided by the charts and graphs. I am interested in how political structures and criminal activities go hand in hand leading to the killings of the journalist. Mexico may be a democratic country now but it is known to have corrupt politicians that make shady deals in order to gain power. Brambila provides six hypotheses in his journal to make sense of the killings that have happened in Mexico. From his hypothesis and research, I can come up with my own hypothesis and reasons why these types of killings occur. It has to do with the criminal activity, political structure, economy and overall its people. Are the Mexican people truly happy in their own country? Do they feel safe in their own home? The journal will provide me a launching point into answering these questions to create a more concise thesis.
Image: The image attach represents the killings happening in Mexico. The gunman lurking in the shadows waiting for his victim (journalist) to appear. It is clear from the journal that the police do not know who are ordering the hits on the journalists. This why I found this image suiting as only the shadow of the gunman can be seen.
Human Rights in Latin America 
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