Demonstrations yesterday in the Guerrero cities of Acapulco, Zihuatanejo and Atoyac de Álvarez followed the assassination on Wednesday of journalist Gabriel Soriano Kuri.
Soriano had been covering Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores’ third annual report for the Radio y Televisión de Guerrero (RTG) broadcaster Wednesday evening.
After the event, held in Acapulco, he was driving a company vehicle when he was attacked and killed by armed civilians.
Following the murder, Astudillo offered his condolences to Soriano’s family via Twitter. But it didn’t go down very well.
Soriano’s daughter replied with a blunt message: “My dad was assassinated doing his job. Covering your report to the state! Do your job and fix the situation the state is in. It’s not right,” she wrote.
Her discontent was echoed in at least three demonstrations where journalists demanded that authorities solve the assassination of their colleague.
The protesting journalists also demanded guarantees to be able to perform their jobs safely.
A state journalists’ association reported that three members of the profession have been slain during Astudillo’s three years in office.
Francisco Pacheco was killed in Taxco in 2016, while Cecilio Pineda was murdered last year in Ciudad Altamirano.
The organization also stated that journalists in the state have been victims of multiple aggressions perpetrated by state officials and police.
Soriano’s assassination was also condemned by the Mexico office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“The assassination of Gabriel is yet another terrible reminder that violence against journalists in the country is unstoppable, reinforcing what we already know: Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for those who do the work of providing information,” said UN representative Jan Jarab.
One of the chief measures to prevent violence against journalists, he added, is to stop impunity.
The latest murder brings to 10 the total number of journalists slain this year in Mexico. There may have been one more: Agustín Silva has been missing since January.
The UN office said there were at least 12 journalists assassinated last year in Mexico.
