Mexican-American Journalist Shot Dead in Tijuana After Telling President ‘I Fear For My Life’ in 2019
Reporter Lourdes Maldonado López was killed in Tijuana over the weekend, the third killing of a journalist Mexico has seen in the last month.
The Baja California state prosecutor’s office released a statement to the media confirming López was found dead in her car from a gunshot wound. Her death follows the murders of photojournalist Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel in Tijuana, and Jose Luis Gamboa, director of the online news site Inforegio, who was wounded in Veracruz.
López was known for covering corruption and politics, and she just won a labor lawsuit against news outlet Primer Sistema de Noticias, where she previously worked. The outlet is owned by former Baja California governor Jaime Bonilla, and López claimed over the last few years that the organization unfairly dismissed her and refused to pay her wages.
In 2019, López appealed to Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador while her case was being litigated and asked for his support “because I fear for my life.”
“I can’t do anything without your help, Mr. President,” she said.
CNN notes that Bonilla, an ally to López Obrador, has claimed that he had a “good relationship” with López, that he didn’t understand why Lopez asked for government protection, and “there was never a threat, not even an argument with her.”
Baja California governor Marina del Pilar Ávila released a statement denouncing Lopez’s murder and writing that her death “is covered because the journalists are dedicated to the search for the truth.”
“This attack was not only against Lourdes, but against our entire society,” she wrote. “We are going to put all the strength of the State in doing justice.”
Lamento profundamente el asesinato de la periodista Lourdes Maldonado López ocurrido hoy en el municipio de Tijuana.
Desde ese momento estoy y sigo en contacto permanente con la Fiscalía del Estado y con el Secretario de Seguridad Ciudadana… (1/3)
— Marina del Pilar (@MarinadelPilar) January 24, 2022
Quiero externar mi dolor con la familia de Lourdes y con las y los periodistas bajacalifornianos, este ataque no fue solo contra Lourdes, sino contra toda nuestra sociedad.
Vamos a poner toda la fuerza del Estado en hacer justicia. (3/3)
— Marina del Pilar (@MarinadelPilar) January 24, 2022
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