Honduran cameraman Edwin Rivera Paz, 28, was murdered in Acayucan, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, on July 9.
The cameraman was shot by armed persons on a motorcycle who, according to witnesses, chased him for several blocks in the San Diego neighborhood, reported Honduran daily La Prensa.
Apparently, the person accompanying him managed to flee the attack, according to Eje Central of Mexico.
The young cameraman had been living with his half-brother Pablo Rivera since he arrived in Mexico at the beginning of 2017 as a refugee with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mexican site El Sol de Tampico reported.
Rivera Paz sought refuge in Mexico shortly after the death of his friend and colleague Igor Padilla Chávez, who was shot in the street on Jan. 17 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Padilla, whose death remains unpunished, was allegedly murdered by several members of the Maras criminal gang, according to news site Presencia Noticias.
Rivera Paz was a cameraman for Padilla in the comedy program "Los Verduleros," which was broadcast by Honduran TV channel Hable Como Habla (HCH), according to EFE.
According to testimony from people close to Rivera Paz, the cameraman had said that he feared for his life because of his relationship with Padilla, La Prensa de Honduras reported.
At the request of his relatives, both the Honduran consular authorities of Acayucan and representatives of the UNHCR claimed his body in order to repatriate his remains.
The Mesoamerican Migrant Movement said the circumstances of the death were "worrying" and called on authorities to investigate the case, Newsweek en español reported.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
