The news director at a local news outlet in Mexico was shot to death at a Mexican beach resort, the second death in a month at Playa News, and at least eighth in the country for 2018, as violence against journalists continues to climb.
Ruben Pat, the founder and news director of the weekly paper, was gunned down outside a local bar near the Playa del Carmen resort town in the state of Quintana Roo early Tuesday morning, according to Reuters.
Pat had been receiving death threats and asserted he was beaten by municipal officers after he published information tying local officials to drug cartels and organized crime in Quintana Roo, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists in June. (RELATED: Two More Candidates For Mayor Are Killed In Mexico)
Another reporter at Playa News, José Guadalupe Chan Dzib, was shot at a bar in Quintana Roo, according to a Facebook post by Playa News on Tuesday.
“The UN-DH obtained information that Mr. Chan Dzib had received threats against him during the past weeks and that he would have informed the authorities without any protection measures being taken,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) office in Mexico said to the BBC after Dzib’s death.
“Today we have spoken with colleagues from Mr Pat, they conveyed to us the risk and fear they face in order to carry out their work, essential work for a free, democratic and plural society. Many of them have recently received threats,” Jan Jarab, representative from UN-DH, said in a statement, according to the news organization’s Facebook post.
Quintana Roo is a predominately touristy state, including popular beach cities such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, but the once safe state has seen an 132-percent increase in murders in 2018 as drug-related crimes infest its cities, according to The Guardian.
Mexico is the third country in the world that has the highest number of journalists murdered, right after Syria and Afghanistan, according to Reporters Without Borders.
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