An international press freedom group says that 2022 is already Mexico’s deadliest year for journalists.
On Monday, journalist Fredid Roman was shot and killed in the southern Mexican city of Chilpancingo. It was the 13th journalist killing in the country so far this year logged by the Committee to Protect Journalists, making it Mexico’s deadliest on record.
“I mean we’re only in August,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, the group’s Mexico representative. “We can assume that this will not be the last victim unfortunately.”
Ukraine, which has endured months of bloody warfare, is the only country with a higher journalist death toll than Mexico in 2022, according to CPJ figures. Removing that toll, Mexico accounts for roughly half of the world’s journalists killed, Hootsen noted.
“That is a crisis of press freedom that we’ve rarely seen anywhere in the world,” he added. “Let alone in a country that is officially in peace time like Mexico.”
