Journalist Hamurabi Huesca Manzano was shot dead in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Friday, the ninth journalist killed in Mexico this year, according to the human rights organization Article 19.
Huesca Manzano, who owned the news website Pinotepa Comunica, was killed after an armed group opened fire on him and two others, according to the state prosecutor’s office. He was working as a taxi driver at the time, waiting to take another man somewhere, prosecutors said. That man, known as “El Dario” and described as infamous for instigating violence on the Oaxaca coast, was wounded and died in hospital hours later; one line of inquiry suggests he was the intended target.
The prosecutor’s office said the attackers have been “fully identified” but did not name them or say whether Huesca Manzano’s journalistic work played any role. Local reports give differing accounts of where the attack happened, with some saying he was shot at his home and that a woman was also injured. Article 19 demanded that prosecutors treat his journalistic work as a priority in the investigation.
Mexico remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, with more than 150 media workers killed there since 1994, according to Reporters Without Borders.