The journalist Heber Lopez Vasquez39, was shot to death this Thursday in the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca statesouthern Mexico, family sources have reported.
The crime is the fifth murder that occurs in Mexico against journalists so far in 2022.
López Vásquez was director of the Noticias Web portal and his death has been confirmed by his brother Irving López Vásquez, who also works in this profession.
So far the motive for the crime is unknown and according to reports from the municipal police of Salina Cruz there are already two people arrested.
“⚠️ ARTICLE 19 documents the murder of journalist and director of Noticias Web, Heber López. According to public sources, the event took place a few hours ago in his recording studio, in Salina Cruz, #Oaxaca. pic.twitter.com/3DbMuGk2yV“
– ARTICLE 19 MX-CA (@article19mex) February 11, 2022
Heber was shot five times in his office located in the center of this city located on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, around 8:00 p.m. local time this Thursday (02:00 GMT on Friday).
The place remains guarded by agents of the National Guard and the State Investigation Agency (AEI).
Irving has said that his brother “He was with his son when he was murdered” while he has demanded justice for his crime.
According to the Article 19 organization, the communicator had reported attacks against him to this organization in 2019.
Last Tuesday, the governor of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat, headed a Security Roundtable at the military installations in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, to coordinate actions to guarantee peace and tranquility in the Isthmus region.
The deadliest country for the press
From January 2015 to December 2021, the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) has opened 288 investigations derived from complaints related to violations of the rights of journalists in Oaxaca.
So far, the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office has not issued information on the events.
Mexico, considered the deadliest country for the press, is experiencing unprecedented violence at the beginning of 2022 due to the murder of at least five journalists, two of them in Tijuana, on the border with the United States.
Image of three police officers near the place where journalist Heber López Vásquez was murdered. REUTERS/Stringer
Last Wednesday, the Mexican government announced the arrest of three suspects involved in the murder of journalist Lourdes Maldonado, which occurred on January 23 and whose death in Tijuana sparked a national mobilization against violence against the press.
Maldonado’s murder shook the country because in March 2019 had publicly asked the president for protectionAndrés Manuel López Obrador, due to a legal problem he had with Jaime Bonilla, former governor of Baja California of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena).
Without counting yet the case of this Thursday in Oaxaca, the NGO Article 19 adds 149 journalists killed for carrying out their work from 2000 to date, 29 of them during the term of López Obradorwhich started in December 2018.
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George Holan is chief editor at Plainsmen Post and has articles published in many notable publications in the last decade.
