Excerpt: "Mexican journalist Ricardo Monlui Cabrera was shot dead Sunday while leaving a restaurant with his wife and son in Veracruz state, an area that journalism groups consider one of the country's most dangerous for reporters, a state commission reported."
Mexican journalist Ricardo Monlui Cabrera covered local politics and the sugarcane industry. (photo: Facebook/Ricardo Monlui Cabrera)
20 March 17
Ricardo Monlui Cabrera was killed in the Mexican state of Veracruz which is considered to be the most dangerous area for journalists in the Latin America.
exican journalist Ricardo Monlui Cabrera was shot dead Sunday while leaving a restaurant with his wife and son in Veracruz state, an area that journalism groups consider one of the country's most dangerous for reporters, a state commission reported.
"No member of his family was injured," Jorge Morales, executive secretary of the State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists, told AFP. That group was created in 2012 after nine Veracruz journalists were murdered within months.
Monlui was the editor of a local business newspaper, El Politico, and wrote a column covering area politics and the sugarcane industry.
A source close to the local prosecutor's office said Monlui and his family had been invited to breakfast at a popular restaurant in the town of Yanga.
As they were walking back to their car, another car pulled up and at least two gunmen opened fire, leaving Monlui's body sprawled on the asphalt, the source said, speaking on grounds of anonymity.
The last Mexican media person to be killed was Cecilio Pineda, shot dead earlier this month in Guerrero state as he lay resting in a hammock.
Mexico is the most dangerous country in Latin America for journalists, particularly those working to expose corruption and criminal networks.
At least 48 journalists were killed in Mexico in 2016 and 72 in 2015, according to The Committee to Protect Journalists. The high rate of impunity for these crimes means that the killers rarely ever face justice.
Numerous organizations, including the United Nations, Reporters without Borders and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, have spoken out against the violence against journalists in Mexico and urged the government to take stronger action to bring perpetrators to justice.
Reporters Without Borders said in February that Mexico is now the most dangerous country in Latin America for journalists to work in, with 99 of them murdered between 2000 and 2016. The Veracruz area, with 19 journalists killed, was called the most hazardous.
