Ninth journalist this year killed in Mexico

Columnist Luis Enrique Ramírez of the Mexican newspaper El Debate was found dead Thursday, the ninth killing of a journalist in the country this year.

Ramírez’s body was found on a dirt road near the El Ranchito highway, according to the attorney general of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

“Good afternoon, unfortunately it is confirmed that the body found on a dirt road on the El Ranchito highway is the journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos,” wrote Attorney General Sara Bruna Quiñónez Estrada. “Our sincere condolences to his family and our commitment to work to clarify this fact.”

Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya of Sinaloa assured the public that the government would conduct a thorough probe into the killing.

“I have communicated with the Prosecutor Sara Bruna, so that an immediate, rigorous and exhaustive investigation is carried out, to clarify this disgraceful fact,” Moya wrote.

Ramírez is the ninth journalist slain in 2022 and the 34th under the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to the El Debate newspaper.

“In the case of journalists, we have an impunity rate of around 96-97 percent and as long as the crimes are not punished, they will unfortunately continue to occur,” said Ismael Bojórquez, the director of Mexican media company Río Doce. “Lament this, wait for the investigations to be carried out as the prosecution says, and condemn the climate of violence that exists in Mexico and in Sinaloa.”