Journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez murdered, the ninth crime against the press this year

Portrait of Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos, a journalist murdered in Culiacán, Sinaloa. RELIABLE SOURCES (via REUTERS)

The body of journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez was found this Thursday in Culiacán, Sinaloa.

The reporter was kidnapped last night and his body was located this morning wrapped in plastic on a dirt road, as confirmed by the Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office.

Ramírez had reported threats and had even been integrated into a protection mechanism in 2015. He is the ninth reporter killed this year in Mexico, which has become the most dangerous country in the world for the press.

The first data indicates that the 59-year-old journalist left his home around 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday and walked to a small store in the Morelos neighborhood, in the center of Culiacán.

"In the place there were some armed men with whom the journalist made words and deprived him of his freedom," according to the local media outlet

, founded by Javier Valdez, who was also murdered in the Sinaloa capital in 2017. half assures that shots were heard and that blood stains and a journalist's sandal were left on the road.

So far there is no more information about the attack or its perpetrators.

The governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, has asked the state prosecutor, Sara Bruna, to carry out "an immediate, rigorous and exhaustive investigation" to clarify the crime.

Ramírez's murder hits a beleaguered guild again.

In the first three months of 2022 another eight reporters have been killed.

The last one, Armando Linares, was gunned down in Zitácuaro, in Michoacán, just a few weeks after announcing the murder of Roberto Toledo, his colleague from

.

The alarming climate against the press in Mexico has reached beyond the country's borders: both the United States and the European Parliament have called on the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to take action.

“I feel the imminent danger”

Ramírez had founded the

portal and was currently a columnist for the newspaper

With more than 40 years of experience in national media such as

,

or

, Ramírez was one of the most recognized cultural reporters in the country during the 90s. From his interviews with the great names of culture in Mexico, he published the books

and

.

In 2015, Ramírez had to leave Sinaloa due to the threats he received.

"I do feel the imminent danger that I am the one who follows, because there is a pattern, in four recent murders, including that of Humberto (Millán), in which I fit," the informant told

.

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