Standing Up For The Truth

Standing up for the truth, speaking prophetically, and offering criticism are never easy. They always involve risk—the risk of losing a friendship, a job, or status, power, and popularity. Of course, it can even come with the risk of losing one’s life. Jesús Blancornelas was the editor for the Latin magazine Zeta, a publication that sought to expose Mexico’s criminal underworld, regardless of the threat such criticism posed. In 1997, an assignation attempt was made on Blancornelas after he published a picture of the notorious Tijuana cartel drug lord Ramón Arellano Félix. Blancornelas survived the attack, but the two men he cofounded the newspaper with were not so fortunate: both were eventually murdered for their contributions to the paper (Roxy Simons, “Is La Voz in ‘Narcos: Mexico’ a Real Newspaper?,” Newsweek, November 9, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/narcos-mexico-luisa-rubino-interview-la-voz-newspaper-1647304).