A crime reporter has been killed in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen, the fifth journalist slain in the country so far this year. He had been under official government protection.
Image: Getty Images/D. Grombkowski
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A police reporter who had received several death threats and was under government protection has been shot to death in the Mexican beach resort town of Playa del Carmen.
The body of Francisco Romero was found early Thursday morning in the parking lot of a nightclub; he had been called to the area after a news tip. Although Romero had four bodyguards, provided by the government to protect him following the recent death threats, he had sent them home just hours before his death.
The state prosecutor's office has opened a homicide investigation, saying Romero had filed a complaint on April 12 over threats he had received. Romero's wife, Veronica Rodriguez, confirmed her husband had received numerous death threats and said she still feared for her life.
"The last time wasn't even two weeks ago. They threatened him saying that if he didn't do what they wanted, they were going to kill me," she told the Agence France-Presse. "They said they knew where our son studied, that they were going to throw him off a bridge."
Deadliest country for journalists
Reporters Without Borders said the killing, the fifth reporter slain in Mexico since January, officially made it deadliest country in the world for journalists so far this year. Last year, the group ranked Mexico the third most dangerous in the world for the press after war-torn Afghanistan and Syria.
Romero worked for Quintana Roo Hoy, a regional newspaper, and ran a Facebook-based news site called Ocurrio Aqui (It Happened Here) that covers political issues and crime.
He had been under the official protection program for journalists since 2018, according to Reporters Without Borders, following the murder of two Playa del Carmen journalists in June and July 2018.
"The government must take bold decisions and deeply reform the national protection mechanism, whose efficiency has been constantly questioned," said Emmanuel Colombie, Latin America director for Reporters Without Borders.
Drug trafficking and political corruption has led to increased violence in Mexico in recent years, and journalists reporting on these issues have often been targeted.
Journalism: A dangerous activity
In the first 10 months of 2018, 73 journalists and media workers have died — and not just in war zones. Threats to investigative reporters are increasing, with a number being arrested and jailed over the last year.
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
Viktoria Marinova, Bulgaria
The 30-year-old TV presenter had recently hosted investigative journalists working on alleged corruption involving European Union funds. She was brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse in October 2018.
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Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia
The 60-year-old author, <i>Washington Post</i> columnist and former editor-in-chief of Al Arab News Channel was last seen walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to get papers to verify his divorce. His fiancee waited outside for 11 hours, and she says he never came out. Khashoggi had previously said he believed the Saudi leadership wanted to kill him.
Image: Reuters/Middle East Monitor
Samim Faramarz, Ramiz Ahmadi, Afghanistan
TV news reporter Samim Faramarz was killed in September 2018 with his cameraman Ramiz Ahmadi when they were reporting from the scene of an explosion in the west of Kabul. The car bomb went off just meters from where they were just finishing a live report. Afghanistan remains the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Marai
Mario Gomez, Mexico
After Afghanistan and Syria, Mexico is the most dangerous nation for journalists. There were 14 journalists killed in 2017, and at least 10 more lost their lives in 2018. Mario Gomez, a 35-year-old correspondent, was shot dead by armed men as he left his home in Chiapas in September 2018. He had reportedly received death threats after investigating corruption among state officials.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Y. Cortez
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had reported the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim villagers. They were arrested in December 2017 after being invited to meet police for dinner in Yangon. In September 2018, after 39 court appearances and 265 days in detention, they were jailed for seven years for breaching the 1923 Official Secrets Act.
Image: Reuters/A. Wang
Marlon de Carvalho Araujo, Brazil
A major issue in Brazil's election campaign was corruption. Radio journalist Marlon de Carvalho Araujo focused on reporting graft, and he wrote on corruption involving officials at various levels of the Bahia regional administration. In August 2018, four gunmen burst into his home in the early hours and shot him dead.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Sa
Shujaat Bukhari, Kashmir
Kashmir journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead outside his newspaper office in Srinagar in June 2018. A contributor to DW, he advocated a peaceful resolution to the conflict between India and Pakistan over the mountainous region.
Image: twitter.com/bukharishujaat
The Capital, Maryland, USA
Editor Wendi Winters, her assistant Robert Hiaasen, writer Gerald Fischman, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith died when a gunman shot through the glass door into their office in June 2018. The man, who had filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper, was arrested at the scene and charged with their murders.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ngan
Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, Slovakia
An ex-police officer was named as the killer of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova in February 2018. The murders sparked mass protests and led to the resignation of the prime minister. Kuciak had been investigating ties between government officials and the Italian mafia.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Voijnovic
Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta
Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who linked Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal, was killed when a bomb destroyed her car in October 2017.
