Mexico continues to be the most dangerous place to be a journalist in Latin America

The new year in Mexico has seen a wave of assassinations of journalists, as one of the most violent countries in the world continues to struggle with violent deaths linked to organized crime and state corruption. In January alone, four journalists were victims of homicides that could be tied to their reporting. This represents more than half of last year’s total, according to NGO Artículo 19 which keeps track of statistics. 

The most notable case has been that of Lourdes Maldonado in Tijuana, a border town in the northern state of Baja California. The reporter had traveled to Mexico’s capital to publicly call on President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, for help during one of his daily press conferences back in 2019.

Ms. Maldonado took the floor to say she “feared for [her] life” due to a conflict with a local businessman and politician, Jaime Bonilla – a senator for AMLO’s Morena party at the time, who later became governor of Baja California. Until recently, Mr. Bonilla was rumored as a possible addition to the federal cabinet.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Maldonado announced that she had finally won a long-standing labor lawsuit concerning her work for a Bonilla-owned broadcaster between 2006 and 2012. She threatened to expose some of Mr. Bonilla’s tax avoidance schemes if he continued to refuse to pay her what she was due – a move which she claimed would lead to his arrest.

The journalist was found dead four days later, on January 23, shot in front of her house. This was...