Journalist shot dead after leaving office
Another journalist has been killed in Mexico and this time the victim is a woman who hosts a program on an indigenous radio station in the southern state of Guerrero.
State security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia says Marcela de Jesus Natalia was shot in the head on Saturday as she left the government-owned station on the town of Ometepec.
Jesus Natalia was shot twice by unknown attackers minutes after leaving her 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift at Guerrero Radio and Television, RTG, El Sol de Mexico reported.
She was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
“Our companion speaker Marcela de Jesus was injured and has already been transferred by air to a hospital in the port of Acapulco,” RTG Director Bismark Villanueva Bracho said in an on-air announcement shortly before her death.
Jesus Natalia, originally from Xochistlahuaca, was a community activist and member of the Democratic Revolution Party.
She was the sixth journalist killed this year in Mexico, marking rising violence against representatives of the increasingly dangerous profession.
Last month, radio journalist Filiberto Alvarez was shot dead in the state of Morelos, a day before World Press Freedom Day.
On April 14, veteran Mexican journalist Maximino Rodriguez Palacios was shot and killed outside of a store in Baja California.
Rodriguez, who covered police investigations and organized crime, was shot as he arrived in his car with his wife around noon, Colectivo Pericu reported.
On March 23, La Jornada senior correspondent Miroslava Breach was shot and killed outside of her home in Chihuahua, where murderers reportedly left a menacing message.
She worked as a correspondent for the paper for over 15 years and specialized in covering politics and security around northern Mexico.
On March 19, El Politico editor Ricardo Monlui Cabrera was shot and killed in Veracruz while leaving a restaurant with his wife and son.
Monlui wrote a column covering area politics and the sugarcane industry.
And on March 2, freelance journalist Cecilio Pineda was shot dead in Guerrero state as he lay resting in a hammock.
Months before his death, Pineda denounced constant death threats he received from organized crime groups over his coverage of their activities, Proceso reports.
Mexico is ranked third in the world for the number of journalists killed per year, Reporters Without Borders reports.
The Latin American country follows Syria and Afghanistan in crimes against journalists.
Source: telesurtv