16 August 2022 | CPJ
Journalist found dead in northern Mexico
Beating
The body of missing Mexican journalist Juan Arjón López has been found in San Luis Río Colorado.
Arjón, the founder and editor of Facebook-based news outlet A Qué Le Temes, was found dead on Tuesday, August 16, in San Luis Río Colorado, a town in the northern Mexican state of Sonora on the U.S. border, according to news reports. In a statement, the Sonora state prosecutor's office said the reporter appeared to have died from a violent blow to the head.
“The tragic and brutal killing of Juan Arjón López is only the latest in a year that is already one of the deadliest in recent history for the Mexican press,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “Although some arrests have been made in earlier cases of press killings this year, an ongoing climate of impunity continues to fuel these attacks. Mexican authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into Arjón’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.”
According to Humberto Melgoza, the editor of San Luis Río Colorado-based website Contraseña and a friend of Arjón’s, the reporter started the outlet on Facebook several months before his death. Melgoza added that Arjón had worked on and off as a journalist in the past and had been a collaborator for OmniCable, a now-defunct radio station, and that he combined his work as a reporter with delivering meals for a local restaurant.
Arjón reported on a wide range of subjects for A Qué Le Temes, including crime, local politics and the environment. The most recent articles were posted on August 2 and included two short news stories about the arrests of suspects of robberies and theft. Although his disappearance was not widely reported until August 9, CPJ was not able to verify whether he had stopped writing articles after August 2 or whether he disappeared on or shortly after that date.
Read the original article here: https://cpj.org/2022/08/body-of-missing-mexican-journalist-juan-arjon-lopez-found-in-san-luis-rio-colorado/
