MEXICO CITY — Mexican journalists held a vigil and protest Saturday a day after one of their colleagues was murdered in the southern state of Morelos.
They demanded a transparent investigation into the case and expressed anger at the dangers news workers face in Mexico, which is one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists.
Dozens of people joined the demonstration over the murder of Roberto Figueroa, who covered local politics and gained followers on social media through satirical videos. After disappearing on Friday morning, he was found dead inside a car in his hometown of Huitzilac in Morelos, a state south of Mexico City where drug-fueled violence is rampant.
He was the first journalist killed this year in Mexico, which is the most dangerous country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere and has the highest number of missing journalists in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a journalism watchdog. Press freedom.
Mexican prosecutors promised a serious investigation and the Morelos state government strongly condemned the murder.
But in a country where press activists say widespread corruption and impunity have long endangered journalists, Figueroa’s colleagues carried signs reading “Investigate now!” and chanting outside the government offices in Morelos, they said they were losing patience with the authorities.
“Neither the state government nor the Attorney General’s Office do anything to stop the crimes that are multiplying,” wrote Jaime Luis Brito, correspondent for the leftist magazine Proceso in a protest statement. “No one in Morelos is safe. …Every day we count the victims.”
Mexican media said Figueroa was kidnapped by gunmen after taking his daughters to school in Huitzilac, which is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Mexico City. The kidnappers called his family demanding a ransom in exchange for his life, but he was killed despite Figueroa’s wife handing over the payment, according to reports.
Police discovered Figueroa’s body along a dirt road Friday night. Prosecutors declined to discuss details of the case or speculate about who killed him and why.
Media workers are regularly attacked in Mexico, often in direct retaliation for their work covering issues such as corruption and the country’s notoriously violent drug traffickers.
Figueroa has focused his reporting in recent months on the upcoming Mexican elections. His colleagues described him as critical of the governance in Morelos.
Since 2000, 141 Mexican journalists and other media workers have been killed, at least 61 of them in apparent retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists says. All but a handful of the murders and kidnappings remain unsolved.
“Impunity is the norm for crimes against the press,” the group said in its report on Mexico last month.