A JOURNALIST was shot dead in Mexico yesterday, said an official, the fifth such killing this year in a country notoriously dangerous for reporters.

Heber Lopez Vazquez, who ran a news website called Noticias Web in the southern state of Oaxaca, was shot in his car, said state prosecutor Arturo Calvo.

He told TV channel Milenio that two suspects were arrested as they tried to flee the scene of the crime and their guns, recovered.

It is not known who ordered the killing, he added.

Lopez’s death brings the number of journalists killed in Mexico this year to five, according to an AFP tally based on data from press freedom advocacy organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world.

At least seven were murdered last year, according to RSF, although it is not known whether the killings were linked to their work.

Mexican authorities said three men have been arrested over the murder of journalist Lourdes Maldonado, whose killing in Tijuana last month sparked international condemnation and calls for the government to do more to protect media workers.

Her death came in the wake of the shooting of photographer Margarito Martinez in the same city.

Roberto Toledo, who worked with a news site in the central state of Michoacan, as well as Jose Luis Gamboa, a journalist and social media activist in the eastern state of Veracruz, were also killed last month. – AFP, February 11, 2022.