Project Exile: Corruption Coverage Causes Mexican Reporter's Flight Dorothy Sedovic - Global Journalist
go to original April 10, 2016

“Never did I imagine that all the darkness in my life would transform into light.” (Hector Sálazar)

Héctor Salazar had worked in various Mexican government communications jobs for years before he decided to follow his heart into journalism. In 2003, he began writing for the newspaper El Nivel in his home state of Morelos in central Mexico.

He wrote weekly political articles that sometimes touched on controversial themes, such as cronyism in government hiring and the influence of money from drug cartels on political campaigns. That led to a series of threats. In one incident, shots were fired at his mother’s home. In another, he was briefly kidnapped.

Fearful for his safety, he left his hometown of Yautepec and came to the United States in 2007, where he stayed illegally in Denver after his visa expired. After a year in the U.S., he was detained during a traffic stop and spent 15 days in prison and was put in the process for deportation.

With the help of a Colorado immigration lawyer, he challenged his deportation in immigration court and eventually won asylum in the U.S. Now 49, he lives in Denver and is a talk radio host on a Spanish-language AM radio station.

Salazar spoke with Global Journalist’s Dorothy Sedovic about being chased out of Mexico for his reporting and his struggles to establish himself in the United States.

Read the interview at Global Journalist

Related: A Heroine in Mexico’s War on Journalists (The Daily Beast)

Related: Jorge Ramos Draws Half True for Claim 80 Journalists Killed in Mexico in Last Decade (PolitiFact)

Related: Tough to Pin Down How Many Journalists Have Been Killed in Mexico (myStatesman)

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