Reporter Antonio de la Cruz is killed as he leaves his home in Tamaulipas

Reporter Antonio de la Cruz was murdered in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, local authorities in the northern border state of Mexico reported Wednesday, one of the most besieged by violence from criminal groups.

"The death of our partner is unfortunate... We call on the authorities, I think it is something isolated, but what has just happened is unfortunate," said the mayor of Ciudad Victoria, Eduardo Gattías.

[“They are annihilating journalism”: Mexican reporters work between attacks and murders]

De la Cruz was killed by armed men in an attack in which his daughter, who is hospitalized in serious condition, was also injured, said the Attorney General's Office (FGR).

Antonio de la Cruz, a reporter for the Expreso newspaper, was assassinated in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, on June 29, 2022. Millennium

"In compliance with federal jurisdiction in matters of Crimes against Freedom of Expression, the corresponding Prosecutor's Office (Feadle), has opened the necessary investigation folder to initiate the investigations of the case," the FGR reported in a statement.

The Tamaulipas journalist was a collaborator of the Expreso newspaper for which he covered the police report,

So far in 2022 alone, 12 journalists have been murdered in Mexico: an average of two per month, including De la Cruz.

Most of them covered topics related to crime and local politics.

The organization that defends the right to freedom of expression Article 19 confirmed that at least eight communicators have been murdered this year in Mexico in direct relation to their work.

[Activists and civil organizations demand that the murder of communicator Juan Carlos Muñiz be clarified]

Before De la Cruz, journalists Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi, Sheila Johana García Olivera, Luis Enrique Ramírez, Lourdes Maldonado, Margarito Martínez, Heber López Cruz, Juan Carlos Muñiz, Jorge Camero Zazueta, Roberto Toledo, José Luis Gamboa and Armando Linares.

Members of the Mexican Army and the state prosecutor's office guard the area where journalist Antonio de la Cruz was murdered, in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, on June 29, 2022. Alfredo Peña / EFE

The spokesman for the Presidency of Mexico, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, promised that

The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has faced national and international pressure this year due to the increasing murders of communicators.

So far in his six-year term, since December 2018, 33 journalists have been murdered for their work, according to the Article 19 count.

With information from