A photojournalist was shot dead Monday in Mexico’s crime-plagued city of Tijuana bordering the United States, authorities said — the latest such murder in one of the world’s deadliest countries for reporters.
Margarito Martinez, 49, was attacked with a firearm and his body found near his home, the security secretariat in the northwestern state of Baja California said in a statement.
Martinez, who worked for media including the weekly Zeta of Tijuana, had received threats, according to a media rights group.
Authorities were also investigating the murder of another journalist and social media activist, Jose Luis Gamboa, who died in hospital days after he was stabbed in the eastern state of Veracruz on January 6.
It was unclear if the killing was related to his work.
Media rights watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) regularly ranks Mexico alongside war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen as the world’s most dangerous places for news media.
At least seven journalists were murdered in Mexico in 2021, according to an AFP count, 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.
