In Mexico, a journalist under police protection was killed

2024-08-05 19:41:49

Police officers stand guard outside the hospital where Mexican journalist Alejandro Martinez Noguez was taken, in Celaya, Mexico, August 4, 2024. They were shot and killed. BLANCA MIRELES / REUTERS

Mexican journalist Alejandro Martinez Noguez was shot and killed on Sunday August 4 in the state of Guanajuato (central) despite the protection of the privileged police, local authorities reported.

Mr. Martinez Noguez, specialized in police news, has been under protection since the attempted attack against him. Unknown assailants shot him dead while he was traveling in a car with his bodyguards, the Celaya city security department reported. He is returning from journalism, according to the same source.

Police sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the bodyguards of Mr. Martinez Noguez, the local police, attacked the attack, but a bullet hit the man in the head, who was traveling in the passenger seat.

“You are a journalist in danger (…) He is very popular in Celaya, he is a colleague with many years of experience., Balbina Flores, representative of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Mexico, told AFP. A woman in the other vehicle was injured in the shooting, police sources added.

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“Blood Show”

The target of an attack in 2022, Mr. Martinez Noguez has been permanently protected by the city police, under a Mexican state program set up to protect journalists at risk, a source confirmed to AFP government.

Alejandro Martinez Noguez runs a news page on Facebook called “Son of Solitito Llanero”, which has some 343,000 subscribers. His latest report is a twenty-minute video on a road accident.

In a press release, RSF calculated that “The Weakness of the State [mexicain] to end torture is an important issue”. “Violence against journalists in Mexico is unprecedented” and the death of M. Martinez Noguez “Describe this bloody trend”add the word.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, according to several press freedom organizations. In a recent report, RSF said that more than 150 journalists have been killed since 1994 in a country hard hit by organized violence. In mid-July, Federico Hans, a journalist in Caborca, in the state of Sonora (north), was shot and wounded near his home as he got into his vehicle.

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World with AFP

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