Mexican journalist who crusaded against violent crime killed by unknown gunmen

A popular Mexican journalist known for investigating violent crime in his homeland was killed while under police protection, according to reports.

Mexican investigative reporter Alejandro Alfredo Martínez Noguez was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen while traveling in the central state of Guanajuato in a car that was safeguarded by two security officers.

The long famed reporter, known commonly among his people as “The Son of the Lone Ranger” tragically died in a Mexican hospital from bullet wounds he sustained from the gunmen. 

Martínez’s death is the latest in a series of such killings that have targeted journalists investigating the Mexican drug cartels. In February 2022, ADN America reported on a series of such killings in which four journalists were murdered in a month’s time.

In the past 30 years, Mexico has emerged as one of the world’s most perilous countries for journalists. Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting journalists throughout the world has said the North American country is now responsible for the death of more than 150 media personnel since 1994.

While the country’s constitution has guaranteed press freedom since 1917, and there are no restrictive laws that censor the media, there have been numerous threats and attacks against journalists from criminal enterprises.

“Collusion between officials and organized crime poses a grave threat to journalists’ safety and cripples the judicial system at all levels. Journalists who cover sensitive political stories or crime, especially at the local level, are warned, threatened and then often gunned down in cold blood,” RWB reports on their Mexico information page.

“Others are abducted and never seen again, or they flee to other parts of the country or abroad as the only way to ensure their survival. President López Obrador has not carried out the reforms needed to rein in this violence and impunity. Nearly 150 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000 and 28 have gone missing.”

A Feb. 7 story reported by ADN America revealed that an investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York examined past ties between López Obrador and the Sinaloa Cartel during his 2006 presidential campaign. The story was later reported by The New York Times.

For his part, Martinez reported his findings on a popular Facebook page, which has more than 340,000 followers. He was in his 50s and had been under police protection after he survived a similar attack two years prior.

According to the Celaya Police Department, Martínez was killed by the gunmen while traveling in a separate vehicle. The two gunmen were reportedly in the back of an open pickup truck when they suddenly open fired.

His two security officers also sustained injuries and are being treated. The two security officers reportedly fired back and tried to save Martínez but were unable to do so.

A March 7 story published by the Independent named the city as the most dangerous for police officers, saying that 34 officers have been killed in the city of 500,000 in only three years.

“Guanajuato has the highest number of homicides of any of Mexico’s 32 states, largely due to a years-long turf war between the Jalisco drug cartel and the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang,” says an August 4 story reported by The Associated Press. “A total of 18 Celaya police officers have been shot to death so far this year in the city of a half million inhabitants. Drug gangs are suspected in most of those killings.”

A woman in the area was also wounded by a stray bullet, according to news reports.

Martinez was known as a crusader against crime who cared deeply about the people of his country. In an interview he gave three years ago, the journalist said he felt “incredible pain and sadness witnessing the damage done to the region by increasing levels of violence,” says a report filed by the BBC.

Balbina Flores from Reporters Without Borders in Mexico told the AFP news agency that “he was a journalist who was at risk.”

On June 29, another journalist, Víctor Alfonso Culebro Morales, was also found dead on the side of a highway in the southern state of Chiapas, and earlier this month, another journalist, Federico Hans, was killed in front of his home in the town of Caborca in the northern state of Sonora.

The death of both journalists have been widely condemned by local and international organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and UNESCO.