Journalist murdered in Acapulco, second in a week

The Mexican journalist Nelson Matus was shot to death this Saturday in the tourist port of Acapulco (south), the regional prosecutor’s office reported, the second journalist murdered in a week in Mexico.

Matus, director of the Lo Real de Guerrero news portal that reports on violence, was shot when he was about to get into his car in the parking lot of a low-cost store, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

An investigation has already begun for “the crime of qualified homicide with a firearm,” the entity anticipated.

She had 15 years of experience as a journalist and specialized in covering violent events, Balbina Flores, a delegate in Mexico from the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told AFP.

The most recent note from Lo Real de Guerrero was published this Saturday and dealt with the discovery of “human remains in black bags (…) next to the La Palapa hotel” in Acapulco.

“He had a very introverted character on certain occasions,” when “covering violence was delicate,” a reporter who coincided with the victim in certain reports recalled to AFP. “He was always cooperative and kind.”

He stated that he feels a “terrible, tremendous indignation.”

A DANGEROUS COUNTRY

Matus is the second active journalist to be murdered in a week in Mexico, considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

On July 8, the body of Luis Martín Sánchez, a correspondent for the newspaper La Jornada in Nayarit (northwest), was found with signs of violence after being reported missing.

According to RSF, since the year 2000 more than 150 journalists have been assassinated in Mexico.

According to the government, only in 2022 there were 13 homicides of reporters and the authorities are investigating whether these events were related to the profession of the victims. The majority of communicator crimes continue in impunity.

The organization Article 19 marked 2022 as the deadliest year, with Veracruz (east), Guerrero and Oaxaca (south) as the states in which the most journalists have been killed.

IMPUNITY

Matus’s crime once again shakes Guerrero, one of the states hardest hit by violence derived from drug trafficking, since it has coasts on the Pacific, one of the routes for drug transport.

Last Monday, in its capital, Chilpancingo, thirteen Mexican security agents were detained by protesters, presumably infiltrated by a criminal group, and they were released the following day after negotiations with the government.

The protesters besieged that capital of 3.5 million inhabitants to demand the release of two men arrested the previous week and who according to the government belong to the Los Ardillos drug gang.

“Guerrero is going through a very complex situation. He is facing very high levels of violence, which makes journalists in that state more vulnerable, especially those who cover red news,” explained Balbina Flores.

“Most of the journalists displaced are from that state” to other regions of the country or abroad for having been victims of attacks and death threats, he added.

For the RSF delegate, “the worst thing is that many murders of journalists go unpunished.”

Dressed in black and shouting “justice!”, dozens of journalists protested last Monday in Mexico City and other towns against the murder of Luis Martín Sánchez.

The Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) condemned the murder of Sánchez and said that the crime must be investigated “promptly, exhaustively, independently and effectively.”

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