Mexico claims another journalist, making it the 15th death this year

• Fredid Román’s program focused heavily on state-level politics.
• He is the 15th media worker killed so far this year nationwide.
• Independent journalist Juan Arjón López was found dead last week.

The 15th media professional to die this year countrywide was shot to death on Monday in southern Mexico. He was a journalist and the host of an online local news programme. Fredid Román was shot and killed in Chilpancingo, the state’s capital, according to prosecutors in the southern state of Guerrero. The majority of Román’s broadcast, “The Reality of Guerrero,” was devoted to state politics. Also, he published a column.

Drug cartels, armed vigilantes, and other groups frequently engage in combat in the state of Guerrero. Mexico, which is now regarded as the most dangerous country for journalists outside of a war zone, has seen one of its deadliest years ever for journalists in 2022.

The shooting death of Román, who was reportedly shot inside his car and had previously produced a newspaper under the same name, was not immediately followed by any additional information from the prosecution.

After Arjón López was killed, Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ representative for Mexico, wrote that “although some arrests have been made in earlier cases of press killings this year, an ongoing climate of impunity continues to fuel these attacks” despite the fact that some arrests had been made.

Just one week before to the murder, independent journalist Juan Arjón López was discovered dead in the border state of Sonora in the north. Authorities said that a strike to the head caused his death. Across the border from Yuma, Arizona, in San Luis Rio Colorado, his body was discovered.

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Violence from the drug cartels has recently impacted that region. In a section of desert close to a waste dump in San Luis, amateur searchers discovered 11 dead in secret burial trenches in March.

A journalist was one of four individuals killed inside a beer store in the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico at the beginning of August.

Authorities stated that it was unclear whether the journalist’s job, his capacity as a representative of neighbourhood businesses during the preparation of an impending fair, or some other factor prompted the attack.

While small-town officials or politicians with political or criminal objectives are frequently suspects in journalist deaths, organised crime is frequently implicated as well. In Mexico’s interior, journalists working for small news organisations are simple prey.

After Arjón López was killed, Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ representative for Mexico, wrote that “although some arrests have been made in earlier cases of press killings this year, an ongoing climate of impunity continues to fuel these attacks” despite the fact that some arrests had been made.

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