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María Elena Ferral Hernandez - by Ashley Rascon

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  • Page ID
    187965

    • Ashley Rascon at Pima Community College
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    Maria Elena Ferral Hernandez was a very well-known Mexican woman reporter. Maria lived in Papantla a region of the state of Veracruz. Maria was well known for her passion and commitment to end violence. She believed it was her duty to serve the community and try to make it a safer place to live. Maria understood that due to her job she was putting her life on the line, but that didn’t stop her.

    Maria Elena had a new column that she would post weekly, and it was named Polaca Totonaca (translated as the ‘Politics of Totonaca’), Maria wrote about the politicians who had been murdered. A week before she was murdered, she put out an article recounting the incidents that happened to the four politicians that were murdered in Gutiérrez Zamora a small town in the state of Veracruz. In that article Maria blamed them for the murder and with that she had a big target on her back. She knew before posting this article she would be in trouble, but she did not care she wanted the article out there. Gutiérrez Zamora was known for its drug trafficking, transportation of legal products, and exploited women and immigrants. Gutierrez Zamora is the most dangerous place in Latin America for a reporter to cover (Carmona, 2020).

    Before Maria was murdered there were three  prior attempts on her on her life that she survived. Maria was well aware that they wanted her dead, but she wasn’t afraid,and she was determined. Maria was a woman of intelligence, commitment, and passion. She was not afraid, and her main goal was to protect the innocent while putting her life on the line at the same time. Maria Elena Ferral Hernandez was the 24th journalist to be murdered in Veracruz in the last eight years.

    Maria was a woman who wanted to make change happen. Maria wasn’t scared, she was determined to make Veracruz a safer place to live comfortably. In 2021 Maria was given the Courage in Journalism award in which her daughter accepted on her behalf. Her daughter talks about how proud she was of her mother. She talked so highly about her mother’s commitment that she is now walking in her footsteps and is working towards being a journalist because she feels like her mother’s work is not done. Maria Elena Ferral Hernandez was courageous and determined. She died fighting for something she was very passionate about and I hope her story makes an impact.

    References

    Carmona, M. (2020, June 5). "Murdered for Her Journalism." Global Initiative Against Organized Crime. https://globalinitiative.net/analysi...ral-hernandez/

    Legatum Institute. (2021, March 24). Mexican journalist, Maria Elena Ferral Hernandez, named recipient of 2021 Courage in Journalism Award. https://li.com/commentaries/2021-cou...rd-maria-elena

    This page titled María Elena Ferral Hernandez - by Ashley Rascon is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ashley Rascon at Pima Community College.