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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 2 February 2022

Journalist slain at interview -- Mexico's 4th this month

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A jour- carrying a panic button to
nalist with an online news alert authorities in case of
outlet was preparing to emergency to surveillance
record a video interview cameras installed around a
Monday when he was shot home or even bodyguards.
by assailants, becoming Linares, however, said that
the fourth journalist killed in he did not think Toledo was
less than a month in Mex- enrolled in any protection
ico, the outlet's director system. He said the outlet's
said. deputy director did receive
Roberto Toledo had just ar- protection.
rived at the law offices of The unprecedented spate
the deputy director of the of killings has put reporters
outlet, Monitor Michoa- on edge across Mexico,
can, when three armed and sparked protests ear-
men shot him, said Monitor lier this month. The govern-
director Armando Linares, ment says over 50 journalists
who had also planned to have been slain in Mexico
be there. since December 2018.
"Twenty minutes before I In the border city of Tijuana,
had told him by phone that two journalists were killed in
we were going to meet at the space of a week. On
the office to interview a A woman posts photos of murdered journalists during a national protest against the murder of Jan. 17, crime photogra-
person," Linares said. "I got journalists Lourdes Maldonado and freelance photojournalist Margarito Martínez, in Mexico City, pher Margarito Martínez
held up a little and he ar- Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. was gunned down outside
rives before I do, goes in, Associated Press his home. q
closes the door, but almost
immediately they rang." day that led to to death of Twitter that the administra-
Prosecutors in the western one of our colleagues," Lin- tion condemned Toledo's
state of Michoacan said ares said. killing. "We will work to-
they were investigating the "The Monitor Michoacán gether with the state and
case in the city of Zitacu- team has suffered weeks, municipal governments to
aro. The Michoacan State months of death threats. clear up the case," Ramírez
Attorney's Office said in a We know where all of wrote. "We will not allow
statement that Toledo died this comes from," Linares impunity. We defend free-
from his wounds at a hospi- added, though he did not dom of expression and the
tal. identify those he thought right to information."
Toledo recorded video sto- responsible. In a subsequent message,
ries and had been working Linares said he was now re- Ramírez said the initial in-
for Monitor Michoacan for ceiving protection from the vestigation suggested Tole-
two years, Linares said. National Guard. do worked in a legal office
Linares painted a delicate Jan-Albert Hootsen, the not as a journalist.
landscape of risky report- Mexico representative for The National Academy of
ing. His outlet was covering the Committee to Protect Radio and Television Jour-
sensitive issues: three In- Journalists, said Toledo nalists said in a statement
digenous communities are worked as a camera op- that Toledo and other
working toward self-gov- erator and video editor for members of the Monitor
ernment; organized crime Monitor Michoacan. Michoacan staff had de-
is active in the area; and "We are classifying him as nounced aggression and
there is illegal logging and a media worker or press death threats connected
corruption in local govern- worker," Hootsen said. to their work.
ment. Toledo was filming a new Toledo was enrolled in
He said in a video message video column by Monitor the federal government's
announcing the death ear- Michoacan's deputy direc- protection system for jour-
lier Monday that the web- tor, Joel Vera, a local law- nalists and human rights
site had received threats yer, at Vera's office when defenders known as "el
for reporting on govern- the gunmen arrived, Hoot- mecanismo" or mecha-
mental corruption sen said. nism, the academy said.
"For exposing corrupt ad- Jesús Ramírez, spokesman It did not say what sort of
ministrations and corrupt for President Andrés Manu- protection Toledo had re-
officials and politicians, to- el López Obrador, said via ceived. It can range from