Authorities are investigating potential links between the death of Carlos Dominguez Rodriguez and his work as a journalist after the 77-year-old was found with stab wounds in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas.
Rodriguez is the latest casualty in a series of attacks on the Mexican press in 2017. Ten reporters were murdered in Mexico last year, several of whom covered drug cartels in reports.
Rodriguez, an independent political journalist who covered topics including the growing violence in the country ahead of elections in July.
Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, the Governor of Tamaulipas, said: “My commitment to them and the journalistic community of Tamaulipas is that this murder will not go unpunished.”
Violence in the area has led to curbs in crime coverage in the press amid fears for staff safety. It has been described as a “silence zone” by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
CPJ representative Jan-Albert Hootsen: “It has such a high degree of violent crime and organised crime activity that journalists there feel obligated to abide by certain rules imposed on them by organised crime, as to what they can write about and what they can’t write about.”
The United Nations and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have also expressed concern about the situation in Mexico regarding journalists’ safety.
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