Mexico Under Fire: A Wave of Killings Shakes Journalism and Threatens Freedom of Expression

-Editorial

Journalism was not created to please those in power; it was created to question them. Its purpose is to investigate, expose what others attempt to hide, demand accountability, and become the voice of those who do not always have access to the spotlight. In a democracy, a free press represents one of the most important checks against abuses of authority, corruption, and the expansion of organized crime.

But in Mexico, exercising this fundamental right continues to be a high-risk profession. For many journalists, reporting has become an activity that can cost them their lives.

There is a phrase that has circulated within the journalism community for decades: “I have never known a journalist with a bad heart; most are extraordinary people, idealists who believe they can change the world.” And perhaps that is one of the greatest truths about this profession. Behind every reporter who goes out to investigate a story, every photographer who documents an uncomfortable reality, and every communicator who challenges those in power, there is a profound conviction: that society can improve when the truth comes to light.

Precisely because of that mission, journalists continue to be targets of violence.

With the assassination of Oaxacan journalist Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar, which occurred on July 22, 2026, in San Pablo Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico faces another chapter in a crisis that for decades has placed the country among the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism outside a war zone.

International organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have repeatedly warned that Mexico continues to experience alarming levels of violence against journalists, marked by killings, disappearances, threats, and impunity. RSF’s 2026 World Press Freedom Index places the country among the lowest-ranked nations in the Americas due to systematic violence, lack of justice, and pressure exerted by criminal groups and political actors.

A Summer Marked by Bloodshed and Silence

Violence against journalists experienced a troubling increase during the summer of 2026, with multiple killings and disappearances reported in different regions of the country.

Among the documented cases are:

• June 12: Luis Ángel López Valdez was murdered in Poza Rica, Veracruz.
• July 7: Independent journalist and environmental activist Manuel Alejandro Moreno Serna, known as “Alex Serna,” was murdered in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.
• July 16: Josué Martínez was murdered in San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla.
• July 22: Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar was killed in San Pablo Etla, Oaxaca.
• Journalist Roxana Ramírez, director of the digital outlet Pulso Informativo Nanchiteco, who had been kidnapped on June 2, was found dead at a ranch in southern Veracruz.

The murder of journalist Carlos Castro, which occurred on January 12 in Poza Rica, Veracruz, adds to these cases, further increasing concerns among organizations defending freedom of expression.

The Career of a Committed Journalist

Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar was not merely a recognized communicator in Oaxaca. His career represented years of commitment to political analysis and journalistic training.

He served as director of the Oaxacan Corporation of Radio and Television (CORTV), authored the political column El Zumbido del Moscardón, earned a master’s degree in Communication and Political Marketing from the University of Alcalá de Henares, and graduated from the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism.

In 2024, he received the “Ricardo Flores Magón” Mexico Journalism Award, granted by the Federation of Mexican Journalists’ Associations (FAPERMEX) and the National College of Journalism Graduates (CONALIPE).

Since November 2025, he had served as Secretary of Foreign Relations of FAPERMEX, participating in international journalism cooperation initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening the profession.

His assassination immediately sparked condemnation among journalists and national organizations.

“An Attack Against Democracy”

FAPERMEX and CONALIPE described the homicide as “a direct attack against democracy and freedom of the press,” stating that Leyva Aguilar practiced critical and analytical journalism on matters of public interest.

Both organizations demanded that the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office, the Federal Attorney General’s Office, and the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) exhaust all lines of investigation and consider his journalistic work as a possible motive for the crime.

They also demanded real protection measures for journalists at all three levels of government and reiterated a message that has become a historic demand of the profession: bullets cannot become a way to censor the truth.

The case was also referred to the Commission for the Investigation of Attacks Against Journalists (CIAP) of the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP) for international follow-up.

A Pending Debt to Press Freedom

The numbers reveal the severity of the crisis.

According to FAPERMEX and CONALIPE records, following the assassination of Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar:

• During the current federal administration, 18 journalist killings have been recorded, in addition to the discovery of the body of a communicator who had been missing since 2019 and one case of forced disappearance.
• Since 2000, 345 killings related to freedom of expression have been documented, including journalists, broadcasters, media workers, relatives, friends of communicators, and security personnel.
• Since 1983, monitoring efforts have recorded 411 killings linked to the practice of journalism and freedom of expression.

Violence also manifests itself through threats, forced displacement, physical attacks, digital assaults, and intimidation campaigns that, in most cases, do not result in convictions.

Impunity — identified by various organizations as exceeding 90% in crimes against journalists — continues to be one of the main factors allowing these crimes to be repeated.

When a Journalist Is Killed, Society Loses

The murder of a journalist represents more than the loss of one person. It represents the disappearance of a critical perspective, an unfinished investigation, and a story that may never be told.

Every journalist silenced through violence leaves society with less information, less transparency, and fewer tools to demand justice.

Freedom of expression is not a privilege reserved for those who practice journalism; it is a collective right. A democracy cannot be strengthened when those responsible for informing the public are murdered for doing their jobs.

Mexico faces a historic debt to its journalists. The response cannot be limited to statements of condemnation after each killing. Effective investigations, justice, protection, and real conditions are needed to practice a profession that is essential to society.

Because when a journalist dies for reporting the truth, it is not only a family, a media outlet, or a profession that suffers.

Democracy itself loses.