MEXICO CITY (AP) – A journalist was killed on Friday in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, the seventh slain in the country so far this year and the latest to cause indignation not only at home but abroad and even in the United States (US) government.
Zacatecas Governor David Monreal confirmed the killing of Juan Carlos Muñiz, who covered crime for the online news site Testigo Minero in Fresnillo. Alfredo Valadez, also a journalist, said Muñiz also drove a taxi in the city to make ends meet.
The Zacatecas state prosecutor’s office said via Twitter it had opened an investigation and would follow protocols for cases that could be crimes against freedom of expression.
Zacatecas is one of Mexico’s most violent states. In January, the bodies of eight men and two women were found crammed into a pickup truck left in the main plaza of the state capital.
The state is the scene of a bloody struggle for control between the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, along with local allies.
Fresnillo lies about 37 miles northwest of the state capital and is the state’s second largest city. It has a long history as a mining centre.
