A Mexican crime reporter has been shot and killed in Veracruz, Mexico, one of the most dangerous regions in the world for journalists.
Luis Angel Lopez Valdez, a reporter for the newspaper Vanguardia de Veracruz, was killed early Thursday morning in the city of Poza Rica, according to the publication.
The newspaper said Lopez Valdez had previously received threats because of his reporting, and local authorities had taken steps to protect him.
“Lopez Valdez was killed early Thursday morning in Poza Rica, after being intercepted by armed men while driving,” the newspaper reported.
Vanguardia called for justice and said his killing must not go unpunished.
His death is the latest attack on the press in Mexico, a country long considered one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist. The eastern coastal state of Veracruz has been especially dangerous because of drug violence and threats against reporters.
Reporters Without Borders said at least nine journalists were killed in Mexico in 2025, making it the second most dangerous country in the world for members of the press last year. The group has recorded more than 150 journalist killings in Mexico since 1994.
After Lopez Valdez’s death, the organization called for an “urgent investigation and stronger safeguards for the press.”
“As the country opened the 2026 @FIFAWorldCup, journalist Luis Angel Lopez Valdez of Vanguardia de Veracruz was murdered,” Reporters Without Borders wrote on X.
Freedom of expression group Article 19 also demanded a “diligent and expeditious” investigation into the killing.
Lopez Valdez was not the first journalist killed in Veracruz this year. Journalist Carlos Castro was also shot dead in the state in January.
The latest killing comes as authorities continue searching for another journalist, Roxana Guzman, who was kidnapped from her home in the same region last week.
Guzman, director of the digital news site Pulso Informativo, was abducted after two men broke into her home in an attack reportedly captured on video. The chilling footage shows armed assailants breaking through the front door, entering the house, and threatening Guzman.
Her whereabouts remain unknown.
The Veracruz State Attorney General’s Office said prosecutors, forensic experts, and investigative police officers are searching for her. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said both federal and state authorities are handling the case.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Guzman’s partner, Carlos Fernández Escalante, was shot and killed in 2017.
Mexico had its deadliest year for journalists in 2022, when 13 reporters were killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Article 19.
A 2024 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International found that Mexico has failed to properly protect members of the press, even when they are under state-sanctioned protection programs.
“Impunity is the norm in crimes against the press,” the groups said.
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