5 chilling details about the Narvarte Case

Netflix's latest documentary, In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case, has brought back the focus on the infamous Narvarte Case. The case involved five people being brutally executed inside a middle-class house in the Narvarte neighborhood of Mexico City. These murders have been linked to the governor of Veracruz, who has also reportedly been connected to multiple other deaths and disappearances of journalists and activists.

Among the five murdered people were photojournalist Rubén Espinosa and activist Nadia Vera, who fled to Narvarte after death threats and intimidation in Veracruz. They both worked in Veracruz in fields that would threaten to expose the underlying corruption in the state and the government.

The murders sparked widespread protests across the globe and condemnation due to the continuing violence against journalists in Mexico. Veracruz is also widely considered the most unsafe place for journalists around the world.

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Five quick facts about the Narvarte Case

1) On July 31, 2015, five people, including Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera, were tortured, tied up, and murdered

A flatmate found Rubén Espinosa and four others dead in the middle-class Mexico City neighborhood of Narvarte. All five of them were shot in the head with a nine-millimeter pistol. According to reports, they were also tortured, tied up, and assaulted before being killed execution-style. The manner of their murder indicated a vengeful direction.

Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera were also previously linked to the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, which is widely considered the worst place for journalists worldwide.

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2) Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera were threatened before they fled Veracruz earlier that year

Both Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera were threatened and intimidated earlier that year. They allegedly feared for their lives and left Veracruz to reach Mexico City, which was relatively safer.

According to reports, Espinosa and Vera previously received death threats because of their line of work.

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3) Espinosa’s friends believe that he was targetted because of his work covering social movements

As sad as it is, journalists being murdered for their work is hardly a new thing under the reign of Governor Duarte. Rubén Espinosa was the fourteenth journalist from Veracruz to be murdered under Duarte's reign.

Rubén Espinosa worked as a freelance journalist with the agency Cuartoscuro, and specialized in covering social movements and acts of repression by the government. Needless to say, this made him an easy target.

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4) Nadia Vera left a video message stating that if anything happened to her, it would be the fault of governor Javier Duarte

Despite Duarte often blatantly dismissing these claims, Nadia left behind a video in 2014 where she said that Duarte would be to blame if anything was to happen to her. Vera was an active member of the anti-corruption social movement in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, and Rubén Espinosa often covered her protest rallies.

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5) A suspect was arrested in connection to the Narvarte case shortly after the crime

A man, whose name has not been made public, was arrested in connection with the murders in the Narvartre Case. The suspect was arrested after some fingerprints at the crime scene matched one in the database. There are two more suspects who remain at large.

The Narvarte Case remains one of the most bone-chilling instances of criminal misdemeanors.

In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case will cover this case in greater detail.