A journalist was shot dead Tuesday night in western Mexico, a local prosecutor’s office said, in a part of the country hit hard by organized crime.
Mauricio Cruz Solis, a host on local radio station La Poderosa Uruapan who also published news on the Minuto x Minuto outlet, was killed in the city of Uruapan. One other person was wounded in the attack.
The radio station where Cruz Solis worked mourned his killing in a statement, saying “Mauricio was more than a colleague, he was an unconditional friend, a source of inspiration and a tireless voice in the service of our community.”
Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, news advocacy groups say. Reporters Without Borders states that more than 150 newspeople have been killed in Mexico since 1994.
Cruz Solis’s murder is the first killing of a journalist under the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, although there have been other attacks on media this month. On October 18, gunmen shot at the front of the El Debate newspaper’s office in Culiacan, the state capital of cartel stronghold Sinaloa.
The western state of Michoacán, where Uruapan is located, has been wracked by violence related to drug trafficking. Mexico remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for members of the press to operate in.
