Mexico is one of the deadliest countries to practice journalism. This has been repeated in recent years by different organizations that defend freedom of the press both in the country and abroad.
From 2001 to the present, 69 media professionals in Honduras have died in violent circumstances, and people have been sentenced in only six of those cases. That is, 91 percent of the deaths remains in impunity, according to a report by the country’s National Commission of Human Rights (CONADEH for its acronym in Spanish).
Maximino Rodríguez Palacios, also known as Max Rodríguez, is the fourth journalist killed in Mexico in less than two months.
With 11 journalists killed in Mexico, 2016 became the most violent year for the press since 2000, according to the annual report “Freedoms in Resistance” made by Article 19 Mexico.
In addition to the at least 12 journalists who were injured during the coverage of the protests in Asunción, Paraguay last weekend, media outlets have also faced attacks by some pro-government leaders who accuse them of inciting violence in the country.
The identification of two of three suspects in the assassination of Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea have been confirmed, said César Augusto Peniche, district attorney general of the state of Chihuahua, according to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
Journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea, 54, was killed on the morning of March 23 after receiving at least four shots to the head. The journalist was leaving her home in the capital city of Chihuahua state and getting into her vehicle when a group of strangers approached her and began shooting, according to newspaper Norte in Ciudad Juárez.
Another journalist has been killed in Veracruz, Mexico.
Peruvian journalist and audiovisual producer José Yactayo, who disappeared on Feb. 25, was killed and dismembered, the Peruvian National Police said on March 2 after confirming the identity of human remains found in a rural area on the outskirts of Lima.
After a weeklong hearing, a court in Oaxaca found former police commander Jorge Armando Santiago Martínez guilty of the 2016 murder of journalist Marcos Hernández Bautista, according to a March 4 release from the Oaxaca Attorney General. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 178,000 pesos in damages (about $9,077). A motive was not mentioned.