Mexican journalist found dead with sinister note after reporting on cartel boss arrest: ‘For spreading false accusations’

The murdered body of a Mexican journalist who covered drug cartels was found wrapped in a blanket along a highway — with an ominous note accusing him of “spreading false accusations.”

The remains of Miguel Angel Beltran were discovered Saturday on a stretch of highway that connects the northwest state of Durango with the Pacific coast resort city of Mazatlan in the notoriously dangerous Sinaloa state, according to local reports.

The grisly discovery was accompanied by a threatening note that read, “For spreading false accusations against the people of Durango.”

The former print journalist had been posting his reports online from a TikTok account under the name “Capo,” and on local news outlet La Gazzetta Durango’s Facebook page, according to AFP.

Miguel Angel Beltran’s body was found with a threatening note after he reported a gang leader’s arrest. TikTok/Miguel Angel Beltran

Beltran was found dead on the side of a highway in northwest Mexico on Saturday. Julio Ortega – stock.adobe.com

In one of his final social media posts just days before he was found dead, Beltran reported that a leader of the Cabrera Sarabia gang — a rival of the infamous Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartels that operate in Durango — had been arrested.

“Let’s not rule out the possibility that violence will erupt even more in the state of Durango, and in the city in particular,” he said on a post on social media, according to Mexican news outlets.

“As you can see, there have been recent bloodsheds that are not isolated cases,” he continued, the Telegraph reported.

“They are the result of the entry into the state of the group formed in alliance with Los Chapitos and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.”

Contexto Durango, a Mexican publication where Beltran worked, reported that the journalist was killed and that his son had identified the body.

It was not immediately clear how he was killed.

Beltran is the latest journalist to be killed in Mexico, which is among the most dangerous countries in the world for media professionals.

More than 150 journalists have been killed since 2000 and dozens more have gone missing, according to Reporters without Borders.

Most of the cases have gone unsolved.

“Impunity is the norm in crimes against the press,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a 2024 report on Mexico.