Journalist-businessman among three killed in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Gunmen killed a Mexican journalist and businessman along with two other people in an attack on a bar he owned in the violent central state of Guanajuato, authorities said Wednesday.

Ernesto Mendez, head of the online newspaper Tu Voz, who was shot dead by unknown attackers late on Tuesday, is the 13th journalist killed in Mexico so far this year.

"We strongly condemn the crime in which businessman and journalist Ernesto Mendez and two other people unfortunately lost their lives," Guanajuato state governor Diego Sinhue Rodriguez tweeted.

The other victims were not named.

2022 is already one of the deadliest years yet for Mexico's press, according to media rights groups.

Authorities are investigating whether all the victims were killed because of their journalism or for other motives.

A news website that Mendez worked with, Zona Franca, said that he had received threats in the past.

It said he was celebrating with family and friends when his bar was attacked in the municipality of San Luis de la Paz.

More than 150 journalists have been murdered since 2000 in Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, with only a fraction of the crimes resulting in convictions.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders urged authorities to exhaust all lines of investigation in Mendez's "deplorable" murder.

The government says more than 20 suspects have been detained in connection with this year's murders, nine of whom have been formally charged.

Guanajuato, a thriving industrial region, has become one of Mexico's most violent states due to turf wars between rival gangs fighting for control of trafficking routes for drugs and stolen fuel. - AFP