23 May 2023 | RSF
Veteran Mexican journalist killed in his home
Shooting
Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández, a veteran radio and newspaper journalist, was killed in broad daylight in a hail of bullets fired by men on a motorcycle as he was leaving his home in his car on 23 May in Tehuacán, Puebla’s second largest city, located 200 km southeast of Mexico City.
A commentator on a daily programme broadcast on Stereo Luz FM, a local radio station, and a former Tehuacán correspondent for Puebla’s Central newspaper, Ramírez specialised in covering crime, local journalists said. One of his investigations exposed the case of a paedophile priest who had been protected by Mexico’s Catholic Church hierarchy, they said.
After a long media career, Ramírez worked as the Tehuacán mayor’s security assistant for nine months in 2019. In this capacity, he helped dismantle a local criminal group involved in fuel smuggling, drug trafficking and human trafficking. This criminal group resumed its activities in the region last year, according to the local media.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on the Mexican authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into his death.
