The killings of journalists continue unabated in Mexico in a climate of impunity

At least 13 journalists were killed in Mexico in the first eight months of 2022, the highest number CPJ has ever documented in the country in a single year. In a country characterized by corruption and organized crime, it’s unclear how many were targeted directly because of their work.

13 journalists killed

Name	Organization	Date	Location	Type of Death
Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel	Freelance	January 17, 2022	Mexico	Murder
Antonio de la Cruz	Expreso	June 29, 2022	Mexico
Armando Linares López	Monitor Michoacán	March 15, 2022	Mexico	Murder
Fredid Román Román	La Realidad,Vértice de Chilpancingo	August 22, 2022	Mexico
Heber López Vásquez	NoticiasWeb,RCP Noticias	February 10, 2022	Mexico	Murder
José Luis Gamboa Arenas	Inforegiom,La Noticia	January 10, 2022	Mexico
Juan Arjón López	A Qué Le Temes	August 2 to 16, 2022	Mexico
Juan Carlos Muñiz	Testigo Minero	March 4, 2022	Mexico
Luis Enrique Ramírez	El Debate,Fuentes Fidegnas	May 5, 2022	Mexico
Maria Guadalupe Lourdes Maldonado López	Freelance	January 23, 2022	Mexico
Roberto Toledo Barrera	Monitor Michoacán	January 31, 2022	Mexico
Sheila Johana García Olivera	El Veraz	May 9, 2022	Mexico
Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi	El Veraz	May 9, 2022	Mexico

“That is a crisis of press freedom that we’ve rarely seen anywhere in the world,” Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative, said in an interview with KJZZ Phoenix’s Fronteras Desk. “Let alone in a country that is officially in peace time like Mexico.”

These deaths are attributed in part to the failure of the Mexican authorities, on both the federal and local levels, to make the country safer for reporters or even take crimes against the press seriously.

Despite the presence of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, killings continue in the country. At least nine reporters and dozens of human rights defenders have been killed while technically under protection from the federal mechanism since the institution was created in 2012.

Read CPJ’s briefing on the ongoing press freedom crisis in Mexico.

CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists)