05 February 2008
Francisco Ortiz Monroy
Shooting
Ortiz Monroy, 48, was gunned down as he was leaving the municipal offices in Ciudad Camargo.
According to a version reported by the local press, several armed men got out of a car and opened fire on the journalist who ran and took refuge in a nearby house. His assailants then pursued him and shot him dead.
Ortiz Monroy’s body was reportedly found on a bed with eight gun shot wounds. In another account, the journalist was killed during a clash between soldiers and armed men - a version considered to be less likely that the first. His identity was only confirmed by his paper late in the evening, around ten hours after the incident, even though he was carrying an ID issued by the paper.
Abel Magaña, a deputy editor for El Diario de México, told Reporters Without Borders that the journalist had been covering Tamaulipas state for the Mexico City-based daily for more than one year.
“He sent news to us from time to time, that is general official news, which had nothing to do with drug-trafficking”, he said. This is confirmed by the victim’s most recent by-lined articles dated 1st and 2nd January 2008.
Tamaulipas state is one of Mexico’s biggest crime hot spots, mired in drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the United States, which it borders. The paper said that the journalist also worked for the customs. El Diario de México has not managed to obtain any further information from the investigators or any response from the murdered journalist’s family and friends.
