美国国家公共电台 NPR A 73-Year-Old Is Latest Victim Of Deadly Attacks On Mexican Journalists

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In the last six weeks, four reporters have been murdered in Mexico. The latest victim was Maximino Rodriguez. He was gunned down in his car on Friday afternoon in La Paz, near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. As James Fredrick reports, Mexico continues to be one of the world's deadliest places to report the news.

JAMES FREDRICK, BYLINE 1: At 73 years old, Max Rodriguez wasn't the kind of person you'd expect to be on the police beat. But he couldn't help himself, says Cuauhtemoc Morgan, the co-founder of Colectivo Pericu, the blog where Max worked. I catch him on his cell as he's driving to a memorial for Max.

CUAUHTEMOC MORGAN: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "It was totally by chance," he said. "In November 2014, Max called me about a shooting near his home in La Paz. And then he sent me a story and photos about what happened. From that moment, he was our crime reporter." After decades as a reporter and government spokesman, Max Rodriguez came out of retirement 2 to cover crime. He didn't know at the time how important the work would become.

Murders have recently spiked 3 in his state as a feud 4 broke out between drug cartels. January of this year set a record for the most murders there ever. A week before his death, Max posted this Facebook Live video which got 15,000 views.

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MAXIMINO RODRIGUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: He's running up to a crime scene outside a local prison. A man had been shot and would turn out to be a plainclothes police officer. But this type of reporting put Max at risk for exposing crimes and sometimes the criminals behind them.

MORGAN: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "Our outlet 5 promotes freedom of expression," says Morgan. "Our comments sections are open, so it's become routine for us to receive threats there." Last week, Max wrote about a string of murdered police officers and named the head of a local gang as the mastermind. There are five comments on the story. One ominously 6 reads you're lighting 7 the candles for your own funeral, Max.

Three days later, Rodriguez were shot to death as he pulled up in front of a supermarket. It was the exact kind of crime he would have run to cover, camera phone in hand.

On Sunday night, the state government said that the same weapon was used in the murder of Max and the police officer Max had reported on the week before, meaning he was likely targeted for his work. Max's death on Friday is the latest in a long list of murdered reporters throughout Mexico. Three others were murdered in March alone.

NOE ZAVALETA: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: Noe Zavaleta knows the risks journalists face as well as anyone. His predecessor 8 at investigative magazine Proceso was strangled to death in her home. And a photojournalist he often worked with was killed after fleeing to Mexico City.

ZAVALETA: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "We journalists face real threats," says Zavaleta. "Organized crime, that's obvious. Another is the state that tries to oppress our voices. And the third are corrupt 9 media outlets 10 that work with the first two to try to smear 11 journalists who become victims." Murdered journalists have become so common as to harden Zavaleta's reaction to another death.

ZAVALETA: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "When I hear of another murder, I just think who's next? It sounds crude to say but it's the way I have to think about it now." Now with this climate of fear and intimidation 12 all over Mexico, the most important stories often can't be covered. Cuahtemoc Morgan says some of the reporters in his state want to get off the crime beat after Max's murder.

MORGAN: (Speaking Spanish).

FREDRICK: "My wife and I are reflecting on what to do," he says, "but right now, we don't plan to stop reporting this type of news." For NPR News, I'm James Fredrick in Mexico City.

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