Mexican journalist murdered outside his home

Last Friday, a Mexican journalist was murdered in the southern state of Chiapas , the latest attack against the press, in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers.

Mario Gómez was leaving his home in the Yajalón municipality on Friday afternoon, when he was shot in the abdomen, according to El Heraldo de Chiapas , the local newspaper that employed him. The suspects fled the scene.

The journalist had received death threats on several occasions, but local authorities ignored him.

The state's prosecutor office said that its homicide department would investigate the case.

Mexico

has experienced unprecedented levels of violence as rival drug cartels reorganize into smaller groups after a decade-long military campaign to battle these groups.

Journalists

, in particular, have become targets in Mexico , which the Committee to Protect Journalists classifies as the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere for media workers.

Eleven journalists were killed in Mexico in 2017, and 2016 saw the same number of killings, according to Article 19, a free-speech advocacy group. In most cases, no one has been punished, the group says.

Mexican journalist Ruben Pat murdered in Playa del Carmen

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