Netflix's In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case - What happened to Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera?

Netflix's In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case has brought back the focus on a string of murders linked to Veracruz's governor Javier Duarte. Duarte's reign is infamous for multiple instances of violence against journalists and activists who have often come under focus in the state of Veracruz.

Among the five massacred individuals were thirty-one-year-old photojournalist Rubén Espinosa and thirty-two-year-old activist Nadia Vera, who were known for their criticism of the governor.

On July 31, 2015, Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera were brutally tortured, assaulted, and murdered in the middle-class Mexico City neighborhood of Narvarte. All five people were shot with the same weapon, and their deaths are the focus of In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case.

There is reason to believe that these murders may have been politically linked to Javier Duarte, under whose reign as many as fourteen journalists have died and many more suffered from other terrible fates.

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In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case - Who were Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera and how did they die?

The subjects of Netflix's In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case, Rubén Espinosa, and Nadia Vera were both vocal critics of the Duarte government. They often worked to expose flaws in the state in their respective lines of work.

Both had fled Veracruz after being threatened and intimidated. They reached Mexico City believing it was a safer place, but Veracruz allegedly caught up with them.

Rubén Espinosa worked as a freelance photojournalist for eight years and was often associated with the agency Cuartoscuro. He specialized in covering social movements and acts of violent repression by the government. Some of his memorable photographs have lived on, retelling a tale of violent oppression prevalent in the state of Veracruz.

One of his photographs, titled Veracruz: A Lawless State, allegedly angered the governor to a high degree. He also claimed that he was used to being intimidated and roughed up by the police. Shortly before his death, he told his friends and family members that he suspected someone was following him.

Nadia Vera was one of Espinosa's friends. A social anthropologist, she was a member of the University of Veracruz Student Assembly. She also led a student movement that amassed thousands of protestors. She, along with her comrades, was often beaten and jailed under Duarte's reign.

Before leaving Veracruz, she was allegedly very frightened and had encountered some dangerous intimidation. A year before the murder, she also made a video warning that Duarte was to blame if anything happened to her.

On July 31, 2015, one of their flatmates found Vera, Espinosa, and three others dead in their flat in Narvarte. All of them were allegedly beaten, assaulted, and shot execution-style. The other three victims were eighteen-year-old Yesenia Quiroz, thirty-one-year-old Mile Virginia Martín, and Alejandra Negrete, their apartment cleaner.

Despite the evident indication towards Duarte's government, the case remains unsolved, with one suspect reportedly arrested shortly after the crime.

Netflix's In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case covers this topic in more detail.