▶ Watch Video: Growing public outrage in Mexico as journalists are targeted and killed
A Mexican journalist who specialized in security issues was murdered Thursday in a drive-by shooting in the central state of Puebla where he worked, the local government announced.
Josue Martinez was the director of Noticias San Martin Texmelucan, covering security and major events in his area, the journalists’ advocacy group Article 19 said, calling for his death to be investigated, with his work as the suspected motive.
The Puebla state government condemned the killing, and called on prosecutors to launch a probe in order to find those responsible.
“The case will be investigated with a reinforced focus on the protection of journalists, and all lines of investigation will be exhausted,” the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Local media reported that Martinez was shot dead near his home by two assailants on a motorcycle. He was near his 13-year-old son, who called police, El Sol de Puebla reported.
Martinez, sometimes known as “The Jaguar,” was a lawyer by training, but pivoted to journalism.
In early July, journalist Roxana Guzman, the director of a local media outlet who had been kidnapped from her home in mid-June, was found dead in the eastern state of Veracruz, where a number of crimes targeting journalists have taken place. Reporter Luis Angel Lopez Valdez was killed in Veracruz around the time Guzman was abducted and journalist Carlos Castro was also shot dead in Veracruz in January.
Journalists targeted in Mexico
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In a report released in December, RSF said at least nine journalists were killed in 2025 in Mexico, which was the second most dangerous country in the world for reporters last year.
The organization, which recorded more than 150 journalists killed in Mexico since 1994, called for an “urgent investigation and stronger safeguards for the press.”
Mexico had its deadliest year for journalists in 2022, with 13 killings, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Article 19.
A 2024 report by the CPJ and Amnesty International showed that Mexico fails in its efforts to provide state-sanctioned protection to members of the press. “Impunity is the norm in crimes against the press,” the groups said.