TIJUANA (Mexico), Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A journalist was killed in Tijuana Sunday, the local prosecutor said, the second media worker murdered in less than a week in the Mexican city on the US border.
Lourdes Maldonado Lopez was “attacked with a firearm while she was in a vehicle”, said the Baja California state prosecutor’s office.
Lourdes Mandonado, a journalist with decades of experience, died from a gunshot to the head while in her car, parked in front of her home in Tijuana, the official from the state of Baja California said.
A few days ago, Maldonado won a labour lawsuit against a television company owned by a former governor of Baja California.
A source with knowledge of the case said Maldonado had been registered in the state’s protection program for journalists, which included some police surveillance of her home.
Mexico is one of the world’s deadliest countries for reporters.
On Monday Jan 17, photojournalist Margarito Martinez was found dead near his home in Tijuana.
The 49-year-old, who specialised in news related to the police, had a gunshot wound to the head, according to prosecutors.
Authorities were also urged to investigate an attack that led to the death of another journalist and social media activist, Jose Luis Gamboa, in the city of Xalapa in the eastern state of Veracruz.
Gamboa was taken to the hospital on Jan 10 after he was stabbed and left lying on the street, but his body was not identified until Friday.
It was unclear if the killing was related to his work.
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders regularly ranks Mexico alongside Afghanistan and Yemen as the world’s most dangerous places for news media.
At least seven journalists were murdered in Mexico in 2021, although it has not been determined if all the killings were linked to their work.
More than 100 reporters have been murdered since 2000 in Mexico and only a fraction of the crimes have resulted in convictions. — NNN-AGENCIES
