The authorities of Culiacán, Sinaloa, found journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez dead this Thursday morning in the town of Ranchito.
According to the State Prosecutor's Office, the communicator would have been murdered on Thursday night.
Ramírez, 59, was a columnist for the newspaper El Debate and owner of the news portal Fuentes Fidedignas.
"With deep regret and dismay we report that our journalist, columnist and friend Luis Enrique Ramírez was murdered in Culiacán, Sinaloa," published El Debate.
Journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez, columnist for the newspaper Debate and owner of the Fuentes Fidedignas portal, in a file photo. Vía Milenio
Ramírez left his house in the Morelos neighborhood around 10:00 pm local time.
He walked to a store and was intercepted by armed men on the corner, authorities said.
Apparently there was an exchange of words and then the subjects took him away by force.
Shots were heard and traces of blood were found at the scene, according to witnesses.
[“They are annihilating journalism”: Mexican reporters work between attacks and murders]
His body was found next to a dirt road, wrapped in transparent plastic inside a black plastic bag, reported the Sinaloan portal Río Doce.
His relatives identified him at the morgue, after he was reported missing the day before.
The governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, assured that a thorough investigation will be carried out.
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“With deep regret I regret the death of Luis Enrique Ramírez, a friend and journalist from the newspaper El Debate.
I have communicated with the prosecutor Sara Bruna so that an immediate, rigorous and exhaustive investigation is carried out to clarify this disgraceful fact,” Rocha declared.
The authorities have not yet revealed the motive for the murder, but they are investigating his journalistic work as one of the possible causes.
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Ramírez had been in the Article 19 protection program for journalists since 2011, because
"his integrity was in danger
," said Debate.
He was also the author of two books:
The Wisdom Tooth
and
The Ungovernable
.
He received more than a dozen awards during his nearly four decades in the profession.
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With him, there are nine journalists murdered in Mexico so far this year.
According to figures from the organization Article 19, since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to power in December 2018, there have been 1,945 attacks against the press in the country, including 33 murders and two disappearances, 85% more than in the first triennium of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).
With information from
EFE
.