Freelance Mexican journalist Lucia López Castillo survived a shooting outside her home in Poza Rica, Veracruz on the night of Aug. 21.
López Castillo was walking outside her home and encountered a man wearing a hood, according to Crónica de Xalapa. The man assaulted and shot her before fleeing in a taxi, the publication reported.
The bullet caused damage to her kidneys and intestines, leading to one of her kidneys being removed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She is in stable, but serious condition.
López Castillo reports for magazines Cara Política of Poza Rica and Análisis Político of Xalapa.
The editor-in-chief of Cara Política told CPJ that the journalist worked on general-interest news and avoided politically sensitive work and news about organized crime, the organization reported. She speculated, after speaking with the journalist and family members, that it was a failed robbery attempt, CPJ said.
On Aug. 22, the Attorney General's Office of Veracruz said the regional prosecutor was investigating a shooting during an “attempted robbery” of a person with the initials L.L.C. who is a reporter for local digital media.
The State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) reported it was assisting the journalist and her family and that protocols had been activated in coordination with authorities at the FGE and Secretariat of Public Security of Veracruz. Specifically, a representative of the organization told CPJ that they “initiated procedures to provide her with police protection” and that the motive for the shooting was unclear.
Both CEAPP and CPJ called for a thorough investigation and punishment of the perpetrators.
López Castillo is not the first journalist to be shot this year in Poza Rica. On May 14, Manuel Torres González was killed after leaving the state offices in the municipality. He was editor-in-chief of news site Noticias MT.
In all, this year, three journalists have been killed in Veracruz, a state regarded as one of the most dangerous for Mexican journalists. In addition to Torres González, reporter Anabel Flores Salazar’s body was found in Puebla on Feb. 9, a day after she was kidnapped from her Veracruz home. Police reporter Pedro Tamayo Rosas was killed on July 21 while under state protection.
Upon Tamayo Rosas’ death, Ana Ruelas, director of Article 19 Mexico, told SinEmbargo that 17 journalists have been killed during the administration of Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte (2010 to present). Ruelas also called Veracruz a failed state.
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.
