Journalist killed in Mexico, ninth this year, says NGO

A journalist was shot dead on Friday in Mexico, according to human rights NGO Article 19, the ninth to be killed in the country this year.

Hamurabi Huesca Manzano, the owner of a news website with more than 52,000 followers, was gunned down in Oaxaca state in the south of Mexico, Article 19 said, adding to a tally of journalist homicides tracked by Reporters Without Borders.

Huesca Manzano died from gunshot wounds when an armed group opened fire on him and two other men, according to the state prosecutor’s report.

His website, Pinotepa Comunica, published news about politics and local issues in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, the city where he lived.

He was also a taxi driver.

“We demand that the (prosecutor’s office) treat his journalistic work as a priority in its investigation,” Article 19 wrote on X.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism, with more than 150 media professionals killed since 1994, according to Reporters Without Borders.