Journalist murdered in Mexico – watchdog

CUERNAVACA, Mexico –  A journalist was found dead on Tuesday, July 30, in the trunk of an abandoned car in Mexico, authorities said, as a media watchdog vowed to investigate whether his “murder” was connected to his work.

The body of Rogelio Barragan, director of the Guerrero Al Instante portal, was found “with blunt injuries to the face and an injury to the brain area,” the prosecutor’s office in the central state of Morelos reported without giving further details.  

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which regularly ranks Mexico alongside war-torn Syria and Afghanistan as the world’s most dangerous countries for news media, said the journalist had more than 10 years of experience.

“We will continue investigating more to be certain about whether his murder had to do with his work” at the portal which employs around a dozen journalists, RSF representative Balbina Flores told AFP.

He is the seventh journalist killed this year in Mexico, where more than 100 reporters have been murdered since 2000 amid a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking and political corruption.

The vast majority of those killings remain unpunished.

Last month journalist Norma Sarabia was gunned down in the southeastern state of Tabasco.

In May, crime reporter Francisco Romero was murdered in a resort town on Mexico’s Caribbean coast after receiving threats.

Romero, who was enrolled in the Mexican government’s protection program for journalists and human rights activists, was found dead in a pool of blood in his hometown of Playa del Carmen. – Rappler.com