Journalist Hamurabi Huesca Manzano killed in Mexico’s Oaxaca

What the report says

Journalist Hamurabi Huesca Manzano was killed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing the state prosecutor’s office and the human rights group Article 19. The report says he was the owner of the news site Pinotepa Comunica and was also working as a taxi driver at the time of the shooting. The killing took place on Friday, and it adds to a year in which at least nine journalists have been killed in Mexico, according to Article 19.

Authorities said an armed group opened fire on Huesca Manzano and two other people. One line of inquiry described by prosecutors suggests the attack may have stemmed from a dispute between local criminal groups, and that the intended target may have been a man known as “El Dario,” who was wounded and later died in hospital. The prosecutor’s office said the attackers had been identified, but it did not name them or say whether Huesca Manzano’s journalism was a factor.

Local reporting described conflicting versions of how the attack unfolded, including claims that the journalist was shot at home and that a woman was also injured. Article 19 called for investigators to treat his work as a journalist as a priority. The case highlights long-running concerns about violence against media workers in Mexico, which Reporters Without Borders says has seen more than 150 journalist killings since 1994.