Crime
Fourth Mexican journalist killed in past month for reporting on gang violence and corruption
Roberto Toledo, who was working on several sensitive stories about organized crime and corruption was shot dead Monday afternoon by three assailants in a parking lot in the city of Zitacuaro. He worked as a videographer for Monitor Michoacan for two years
February 1, 2022 1:40pm
Updated: February 1, 2022 4:48pm
Roberto Toledo is the fourth journalist to be killed in Mexico in less than a month amid a wave of retaliation against reporters who cover corruption and gang violence.
On Monday afternoon, Toledo was shot dead by three assailants in a parking lot in the city of Zitacuaro.
Toledo worked as a videographer for Monitor Michoacan for two years. Armando Linares, director of Monitor Michoacan, said they were working on several sensitive stories, including organized crime and corruption.
“Exposing corrupt administrations and corrupt officials and politicians today that led to the death of one of our colleagues,” Linares said in a video.
“[Toledo] lost his life at the hands of three people who shot him in a mean and cowardly manner,” Linares said. “We don’t carry weapons. We only have a pen and a notebook to defend ourselves.”
🔴 #URGENTE
— Ruido en la Red (@RuidoEnLaRed) January 31, 2022
Reportan EL ASESINATO de otro colega PERIODISTA: Roberto Toledo, quien trabajaba para Monitor Michoacan en Zitácuaro.
‘Nosotros NO CARGAMOS ARMAS, solo tenemos una PLUMA y LIBRETA para DEFENDERNOS’, señala el director del medio y quien confirmó el deceso. pic.twitter.com/r9odtWz0DL
“The Monitor Michoacan team has suffered weeks, months of death threats. We know where all of this comes from,” Linares said.
Toledo was the fourth journalist murdered in Mexico in less than a month. In January, corruption and gang violence reporters Lourdes Maldonado Lopez, Margarito Martinez, and Jose Gamboa were brutally killed.
The recent murders of journalists in the country has caused outrage among media workers in the country, many of whom blame President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for failing to take action.
“What makes such a wave of journalist killings possible is that criminal interests – through government inertia, complicity, or direct authorship – are almost never properly investigated or punished,” said Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst at the International Crisis Group. “There’s near-perfect impunity.”
