On Thursday, Telesforo Santiago Enriquez was assassinated in the town of Juchitan, Oaxaca, where he founded a community radio station, El Cafetal. He was found shot to death in a car. Telesforo Santiago Enriquez is the fourth know reporter to be murdered in Mexico this year.
Santiago Enriquez had recently received threats on-air during his radio program, where he was known for reporting on the corruption of local authorities, his niece told Mexican radio network Formula. Santiago Enriquez’s niece said he had been a school teacher and worked to preserve the region’s indigenous languages and traditions.
On his radio show and in his work as a journalist “Santiago Enriquez expressed his analysis and criticism of the government and recently publicly denounced the municipal authorities for alleged diversion of resources,” Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said in a statement.
Telesforo Santiago Enriquez is the fourth known journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year. More than 100 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, a wave of violence connected to political corruption and drug trafficking. Reporters Without Borders ranks Mexico as the third most dangerous country in the world for journalists, after only Afghanistan and Syria.
Santiago Enriquez’s niece, said she believed he was murdered in retaliation for his journalism work. “They shot him in the mouth and heart,” she said.
Photo of Telesforo Santiago Enriquez from Facebook
ANARCHIMEDIA 