Mexican journalist Nevith Condes Jaramillo stabbed to death

TOLUCA: The head of a Mexican news website was found stabbed to death in the centre of the country, authorities said Saturday, the 10th such killing this year.

The body of Nevith Condes Jaramillo "was found Saturday morning... showing injuries from a sharp object", the state prosecutor said in a statement.

The body of Condes Jaramillo, 42, was found in the Tejupilco municipality about 122 kilometres (75 miles) from Mexico City.

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An investigation has been opened to determine what happened.

Condes Jaramillo, 42, was the head of a local news site in Tejupilco — El Observatorio del Sur — and was also an announcer on a community radio station.

Condes had published stories that triggered tensions with the local government, a Reporters Without Borders spokesperson said, citing information obtained from Condes’ reporter colleagues.

The RSF also said that, according to the journalist's relatives, Condes Jaramillo had received threats in June and November, last year, and had sought federal protective measures as a result.

But relatives said he refused to follow through on the protection process due to the bureaucratic procedures involved, according to RSF.

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The National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) condemned the killing and called for an investigation to punish those responsible.

"Violence against journalists, in all its forms, is one of the main obstacles to our country becoming stronger as a democracy," the CNDH said in a statement.

RSF, which regularly ranks Mexico alongside war-torn Syria and Afghanistan as the world's most dangerous countries for news media, said nine journalists had previously been killed in Mexico this year.

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If proven as a homicide, Condes’ death would bring the murder toll of Mexican journalists this year to at least 10 compared with nine last year, according to free-speech advocacy group Article 19.

Earlier this month, three reporters were killed in a single week, including one who had received threats.

Since 2000, around 100 reporters have been killed in Mexico. Violence linked to drug trafficking and political corruption is rampant, and many murders go unpunished.

The spiraling violence underscores the challenges President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has faced since taking office in December with a vow to reduce violence in the country ravaged by notorious drug cartels.

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