What began as a regional media empire in Salamanca, Guanajuato, has become the focal point of a federal investigation linking businessman Gerardo Sánchez Quintanilla to organized crime. According to official files, his digital platforms —El Salmantino and El Pakal-Diario Chiapaneco— do not operate under journalistic standards, but rather as public relations arms serving criminal syndicates.
Suspicion turned into a criminal inquiry following the death of a reporter covering the police beat. Ongoing investigations and family testimonies point toward Sánchez Quintanilla’s direct responsibility in the tragedy, allegedly stemming from illicit agreements with regional criminal cells. The case has raised urgent concerns regarding the safety of journalists working within his organization.
In the state of Chiapas, the situation is equally dire. El Pakal-Diario Chiapaneco is currently under scrutiny for acting as a mouthpiece to spread public terror and manufacture narratives favoring local cartels. What is being framed as “freedom of speech” appears to be a sophisticated logistical operation designed to launder the image of drug trafficking and pressure government institutions through media manipulation.
Federal investigations and local activists report that “The Lords” —the high-ranking leaders of these syndicates— exert total control over food supplies, electricity, cellular signals, and information flow. El Pakal, a newspaper owned by Sánchez Quintanilla, is under scrutiny for acting as a subordinated entity, operating under cartel orders to manufacture narratives and spread terror among the public.
The ongoing inquiry into the death of a reporter employed by Sánchez Quintanilla takes on a darker significance: it is suspected that the journalist was a pawn in Sánchez’s illicit agreements with criminal leadership. In Chiapas, the media outlets managed by this businessman appear to have abandoned all journalistic ethics, functioning instead as a PR agency for cartels to manage territory and enforce social control.