Two journalists killed in separate incidents in Mexico within 24 hours

MEXICO CITY — The U.N. human rights office in Mexico said Wednesday that journalists in Mexico need more protection after gunmen killed a man whose Facebook news page covered the violent western Mexican state of Michoacán.

Less than 24 hours later, an entertainment reporter in the western city of Colima was killed in the restaurant she owned.

Journalist Mauricio Solis of the news page Minuto por Minuto was shot and killed late Tuesday night, just seconds after he gave a sidewalk interview with the mayor of the city of Uruapan (oo-ru-WA-Pan). State prosecutors said a second person was wounded in the shooting.

Solis had just finished an interview on the street outside City Hall with Mayor Carlos Manzo. Manzo told local media he left and “I think two minutes later, just a few meters away, we heard shots, four or five shots.”

“We were looking for cover because we thought the attack was targeting us,” Manzo said. “A few minutes later we learned that they had attacked Mauricio.”

Manzo said he could not rule out a connection between the interview and the murder.

The U.N. human rights office said Solis was at least the fifth journalist killed in Mexico this year. It said he had previously reported safety concerns related to his work. His Facebook page reported on community events and drug cartel violence plaguing the city.

“His murder is a wake-up call for the protection of the right to information and freedom of expression in Mexico,” the office wrote.

A growing number of journalists killed in Mexico were self-employed and wrote for local Facebook and online news sites.

Uruapan is the closest major avocado-growing city to Michoacán. It was the scene of extortion by drug cartels and battles for turf between gangs. The cartels demand protection money from local avocado and lime orchards, cattle ranches and virtually any other business.

Solis reported a suspicious fire at a local market shortly before the shooting. Gangs sometimes burned down businesses that refused to pay extortion demands.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, entertainment reporter Patricia Ramirez Gonzalez was found seriously injured in her Colima restaurant and died at the scene, according to the Colima state prosecutor’s office.

Local media reported that Ramirez, better known as Paty Bunbury, wrote a blog about local entertainment and was a contributor to the Colima newspaper.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned both killings and called for a transparent investigation.