Two Female Reporters Shot to Death in Mexico – Bringing Country’s Journalist Murder Toll to 11 This Year
Two female reporters in western Mexico were shot to death Monday, just days after another journalist in the country was murdered.
CBS News reported Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Sheila Johana García Olivera were both shot to death outside of a gas station in the state of Veracruz:
The Veracruz State Prosecutor’s Office said via Twitter that it was investigating the killings of Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Sheila Johana García Olivera, the director and a reporter, respectively, of the online news site El Veraz in Cosoleacaque.
Veracruz State Prosecutor Verónica Hernández Giadáns said the investigation would be exhaustive, including considering their journalism work as a possible motive in their killing.
Images of the women were shared on Twitter:
— CarlitoS-lim (a) Presidente🇲🇽 (@CarlitoS_lim) May 10, 2022
CBS reported news of the slayings broke as reporters across Mexico were prepared to protest the murder of journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez.
Ramírez, 59, was found beaten to death and wrapped in black plastic on the side of a road in the city of Culiacán last Thursday.
A possible motive in his murder has not been released.
The Mexican news site Revista ESPEJO wrote of Ramírez:
Luis Enrique Ramírez was born in Culiacán in 1963. He began journalism in 1980 after studying at the Sinaloa School of Social Communication and worked in local newspapers, such as El Debate and Noroeste, as well as founding the Fuentes Fidedignas news site.
He received various awards, including the Pablo de Villavicencio Award from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (twice), the Journalism Award from the Sinaloa Cultural Festival and the José Pagés Llergo National Award for Youth Journalism from CREA.
Ramírez was the ninth reporter murdered in a country besieged by violence against journalists. Mollinedo Falconi and García Olivera are the 10th and 11th journalists murdered in Mexico in 2022.
Mexico is the most dangerous country on the planet for reporters, edging out Afghanistan and the Philippines.
