Photo: Balbina Flores / EFE
For: EFE Updated 31 Jan 2022, 17: 22 pm EST
The journalist Roberto Toledo, from 55 years old, was shot to death this Monday in the municipality of Zitácuaro, in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, according to the media outlet Monitor Michoacán, where he worked.
“Today one of our members of our team was murdered. A few minutes ago they attempted against his life, ”said Armando Linares, director of Monitor Michoacán, in a message posted on networks.
Linares explained that this local news outlet had suffered “a series of threats” in recent months.
“Today these threats were finally fulfilled” , pointed out the communicator, who explained that it was three armed people who murdered him in a “ruinous” manner.
Linares, visibly affected, attributed the murder of his partner to the work of the media outlet, dedicated to “exhibiting corruption” of the authorities and politicians.
“We are not armed, we do not carry weapons. Our only defense is a pen, a pen, a notebook”, he pointed out.
The NGO Article 01, dedicated to the defense of freedom of expression, confirmed the crime.
Violence against the press
Not counting this last death yet, Article 19 sum 148 journalists killed for their work since 2000 to date in Mexico, 28 of them during the term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which started in December 2018.
The @GobiernoMX condemns the murder of journalist Roberto Toledo from the Monitor Michoacán portal. We will work together with the state and municipal government to clarify the case; We will not allow impunity. Let’s defend freedom of expression and the right to information.— Jesús Ramírez Cuevas (@JesusRCuevas) January 31, 2022
But the slight downward trend of recent years has been cut short this January with the death of four reporters: José Luis Gamboa in the port of Veracruz (Veracruz); Margarito Martínez and Lourdes Maldonado in Tijuana (Baja California) and Roberto Toledo (Michoacán).
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