“He lived in fear as a result of his work”: the beating death of Luis Enrique Ramírez, the last journalist assassinated in Mexico

His pen revealed the features of figures as diverse as the former president of Mexico José López Portillo, the photographer Gabriel Figueroa or the singer Gloria Trevi.

For more than four decades, Luis Enrique Ramírez's journalistic interest led him to portray the chiaroscuro of culture and the backstage of politics.

Investigative reporter, columnist and director of the portal

, his name was a benchmark for journalism in Sinaloa, therefore, according to reporters in the area, his death weighs more.

His body was found wrapped in plastic, in a dirt area last Thursday morning, under circumstances that the Prosecutor's Office is still investigating.

Until now, the investigations indicate that the 59-year-old journalist died of a head injury.

Ramírez's murder would be added to that of eight other journalists murdered so far this year in Mexico, the most dangerous country in the world for the press.

Luis Enrique's first notes were signed at the age of 17.

In those first adventures he worked in

and

, he emigrated for a time to Mexico City where he worked in the cultural sections of the newspapers

,

.

Upon his return to Sinaloa, his home state, he joined the investigative area of ​​the newspaper

His friend and colleague of his in this newspaper, Gustavo Lizárraga, remembers Ramírez as a friendly, smiling and restless colleague.

"We are puzzled because recently he didn't bring up some rough topic or that I had known that he was threatened, he would have told me," says Lizárraga, who knew the columnist for more than 20 years.

Lizárraga affirms that in Sinaloa the journalist in general "learns to live in fear."

For years the State has been devastated by the atmosphere of violence and threats that also permeates the rest of the country, the same one that five years ago took the life of another leading journalist in the region, Javier Valdez, from

, also murdered in the capital of Sinaloa in 2017.

Marissa Palafox, general editor of the

portal , had to learn to cry and write at the same time.

She was in charge of writing the note on the death of her boss on Thursday night.

Ramírez was the first to give her a chance as a reporter in 2015 at

, the project that Ramírez founded in 2012 and that she directed until his death.

“His social struggles were always ahead, he was a defender of animals, he was a cat lover, he had many cats in his house and always questioning the actions of the authorities regarding LGBT rights and in defense of the feminism”, recalls Palafox.

In a state hit by violence, Palafox recalls that Ramírez as chief was extremely cautious with information regarding drug trafficking and organized crime.

“He lived in fear as a result of his work and in a certain way he wanted to protect his environment.

We focused more on politics and what was most relevant at the national level,” he says.

The reporter assures that in the seven years that he has been working on the portal they have never received direct threats.

Despite Ramírez's death, no one on the team, made up of 10 people, has considered leaving their journalistic work.

“The only thing we want is to continue his legacy and not let the newspaper fall for this and honor him as he deserves”, ditch Palafox.

Colleagues from the local media agree on their feeling of fear, impotence, boredom and sadness after the death of another colleague.

This Friday morning, a dozen reporters have demonstrated in the cathedral of Culiacán, Sinaloa, to protest the death of Ramírez and to demand more security measures.

"With what spirit are we going to go out to report, this (the murder of Ramírez) is a shadow for all of us who are working from here and this is a feeling at the national level," warns César Hernández, editor of the magazine

in Sinaloa.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has condemned this Friday the murder of the journalist and has called on the authorities to protect and safeguard the physical and emotional safety of journalists who are in danger or have received threats from criminal groups due to to the exercise of his journalistic work.

The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that Mexico "remains the deadliest country in the world for the press."

In 2015, Ramírez told several national media about the fear he felt for his safety after the death of several colleagues: "I am the one who follows," he declared then.

Today his colleagues give him the last goodbye.

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