Two other journalists were killed in Mexico

This Monday two journalists were killed in the state of Veracruz, in eastern Mexico. Authorities are investigating whether the crime was related to the work of the two of them and in recent years has become a dangerous profession in that country.

The fatal victims were Yessenia Mollindodo, director of news portal El Veraz, and Sheila García, editor of both websites. They were shot in the municipality of Cosoleacaque, according to the State Prosecutor’s Office through an official statement.

“All lines of the investigation will be exhausted, including his journalistic activity,” prosecutor Verónica Hernández said, quoted in the text.

In consultation with the AFP news agency, the organization that defends freedom of the press Reporters Without Borders (RSF) indicated that it is “still confirming information” about the murder of the two women.

“We are starting the documentation, consulting other sources that can confirm both the journalistic work and its possible link to this work,” Juan Vázquez, of the NGO Article 19, told AFP.

In addition to condemning the action, Veracruz governor Cuitláhuac García reported that an operation had been deployed to apprehend the killers.

The Mexican presidency also promised to clarify the crime and “don’t have impunity”as stated by the spokesman, Jesús Ramírez, in a tweet.

A dangerous profession in Mexico

The double crime occurred after Luis Enrique Ramírez, a columnist for the newspaper El Debate, was killed on Thursday in the state of Sinaloa (northwest). In this new attack, There have been eleven homicides of communicators so far in 2022according to RSF and Article 19.

In Mexico City, about 200 demonstrators came out to protest the killing of Ramírez and the wave of violence affecting the journalistic union They were shocked by the killing of reporters from Veracruz.

“Going here we saw that two more journalists were killed and, frankly, it’s a bit sad … Emotions are rising,” Eduardo Estrada, a 20-year-old communications student, told AFP.

Authorities are trying to determine whether in all these cases the motives were related to the work of the victims, a work that, according to private associations, difficult in areas with a large presence of organized crime like Vera Cruz.

“We are asking the ministerial authority that the journalistic activity of both reporters was the main line of investigation of cowardly crime, ”the Veracruz Commission for the Protection and Protection of Journalists requested in a statement.

According to various activists for freedom of expression, who face the difficulty of making their informational activity profitable, some journalists should substitute journalism in other jobs.

Sa about 150 journalists have been killed since 2000Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for the press, according to RSF.

With information from the AFP

DB