Mexican journalist shot dead outside his home in the border city of Tijuana

By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A Mexican photojournalist has died after being shot in the head outside his home in the northern border city of Tijuana, officials said on Monday.

Margarito Martinez, 49, has worked for more than a decade in Tijuana for several national and international news outlets covering the gang crime and violence that has scarred the city, located on the US border- Mexico is across from San Diego.

The Attorney General’s office in Tijuana’s home state of Baja California said officials who responded to a 911 call around midday found Martinez’s body outside his home with a gunshot wound to the head. out.

A fellow journalist from Baja California said Martinez was placed in a state program aimed at protecting the lives of journalists.

“He recently joined the protection program because he received threats,” said the reporter, who asked to remain anonymous.

Tijuana has become one of Mexico’s most violent cities due to clashes between drug cartels caught in wars over trafficking routes.

The Baja California Commission on Human Rights condemned the killing of Martinez, saying that “any attack against journalists constitutes an attack on society’s right to freedom of expression and right to be informed.” .

Martinez is the second journalist to be killed this year in Mexico, following the death of Jose Gamboa last week in the southeastern state of Veracruz.

Between 2000 and 2021, human rights group Article 19 recorded 145 murders of journalists in Mexico, with seven deaths recorded last year.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and David Gregorio)