A journalist was shot dead in Mexico on her way home from working on a TV programme.
Cecilia Mendez was driving her red Mazda when a motorist pulled up alongside and sprayed her with bullets.
She is one of two female journalists murdered yesterday. Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, a journalist who exposed allegations of political corruption in Malta, was killed in car bomb.
Mendez died from her injuries in Vallarta, in the city of Guadalajara, in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.
She worked at an independent radio station on their “Yo siempre estoy bien” (I Feel Fine) programme.
She had just left work and was driving home when she was attacked at 8.30am on Monday.
The gunman shot her before speeding off on a motorcycle.
The identity of the killer, and any potential motive for the attack, remain a mystery.
Reporters Without Borders estimates that 12 journalists have been killed in Mexico this year in the course of their work.
Mexico’s National Network of Journalists has documented 430 cases of assaults against women journalists between 2007 and 2017.
It says that during the same period, 19 woman journalists have been murdered.
In this year’s Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, Mexico was placed at 147 out of 180 countries.
The organisation said: “Land of the drug cartels, Mexico continues to be the Western Hemisphere’s deadliest country for the media.
“When journalists cover subjects linked to organised crime or political corruption, they immediately become targets and are often executed in cold blood.
“Most of these crimes go unpunished, with Mexico’s pervasive corruption accounting for the impunity.
“Some elected officials are directly linked to organised crime.
“Ownership of the broadcast media is extremely concentrated, with two media groups owning almost all the TV channels.”
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