'El Llanero,' a journalist who had state protection, murdered in Mexico

A journalist dedicated to police news coverage, who had state protection measures after having suffered an attack, was shot dead this Sunday in the Mexican state of Guanajuato (central), local authorities reported.

According to AFP, he wasAlejandro Martínez Noguez, known as 'El Llanero,' administrator of a popular news page on social networks. The communicator was shot dead by unknown gunmen while traveling in a car with his escorts after completing some journalistic work, reported the Security Secretariat of the city of Celaya.

"Armed civilians in a pickup truck caught up with them and fired their weapons into the vehicle assigned by the municipality to transport and escort the reporter," the secretariat said in a statement.  

Police sources informed AFP that the escorts, belonging to the local traffic police, fought off the attack, however, one of the assailants bullets hit Martinez, who was traveling in the back seat, in the head.

Following the attack, the officer behind the wheel immediately rushed Martinez to a nearby hospital where he was treated, however, he later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

A woman who was traveling in another car at the time of the attack on the journalist was also wounded in the attack, police sources said.

With police protection after being victim of an attack

In 2022, Martínez suffered an attack and since then has been permanently guarded by municipal police officers, assigned to this task at the request of the federal mechanism that the Mexican state has to protect journalists under threat, a state government source confirmed to AFP.

Mexico, hit hard by the violence of organized crime, is considered one of the most dangerous countries in which to practice journalism, according to various advocacy organizations.

A count by the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) indicates that more than 150 reporters have been murdered in the country since 1994.