Fifth journalist killed in Mexico in just two months
Radio host was gunned down on Saturday night after ending his music and poetry program
A fifth journalist has been killed in Mexico in the space of just two months. Filiberto Álvarez, a radio host in a small town in the southern state of Morelos, was gunned down on Saturday, but his death initially went unnoticed by national news organizations.
Álvarez’s violent death follows those of Miroslava Breach in Chihuahua, Cecilio Pineda in Guerrero, Ricardo Monlui in Veracruz, and Max Rodríguez in Baja California. A reporter named Armando Arrieta is also in hospital after being shot in March in Veracruz.
Filiberto Álvarez, 65, hosted a music and poetry program at a local radio in the town of Tlaquiltenango. The daily El Sol de Cuernavaca reported that he was gunned down at around 11pm on Saturday night, as he headed home after ending the show.
Preliminary investigations suggest the attack was “not linked to his professional activity”
The attack took place outside a spa named El Rollo, where his partner worked as a manager.
In a press release, the Morelos Attorney’s Office said that preliminary investigations suggest the attack was “not linked to his professional activity.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attack and lamented the prevailing impunity and lack of results in the investigation of journalist killings.
Last year, 11 reporters were killed in Mexico, according to the CPJ. A recent report titled Libertades en resistencia concludes that out of 426 beatings, threats and homicides, more than half (257) were committed by government employees or political parties, and 17 by organized crime.
English version by Susana Urra.
