Journalist and former municipal official Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández was killed Tuesday in the city of Tehuacán, in the Mexican state of Puebla.
Ramírez Hernández, 69, was killed while driving a car after leaving his home.
Article 19 tweeted that Ramírez Hernández had been a journalist for almost three decades.
He worked in various media, including Periodic Central. In 2018, he worked in the office of the Mayor of Tehuacán and most recently worked as a lawyer and worked with some media.
The nonprofit reports that around 1.30pm, the journalist was pursued by armed men who fired at his vehicle, causing it to crash near the Agra Blanca neighborhood.
Section 19 directed the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the murder under the approved protocol against violations of free speech, leaving that line of investigation open.
The government of Puebla and the federal mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists have also been called upon to coordinate and protect Ramírez Hernández’s family and relatives.
The America Program of the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was aware of the assassination of Ramírez Hernández and was gathering information about the incident.
On May 11, Mexican journalist Gerardo Torres Rentería was shot dead in the port of Acapulco in southern Guerrero state. The organization Albania de Medios has confirmed the murder of Torres Rentería, correspondent for Reuters and TV Aztec. He was the second journalist killed in Mexico in 2023.
On February 12, journalist and environmental activist Abisaí Pérez Romero was murdered in Tulsa, central Hidalgo state.
Mexico was named the most dangerous country for media peace in 2022 and was responsible for 20% of the murders of journalists worldwide with 13 cases, according to the non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders.
According to Article 19, a total of 157 journalists have died in Mexico since 2000, presumably as a result of their work. Out of them, 37 were assassinated during the current term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office on December 1, 2018.
(With inputs from EFE)
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