One of Mexico’s most prominent journalists said Friday that two gunmen on a motorcycle tried to kill him in a late-night attack on the streets of Mexico City.
Radio and TV reporter Ciro Gomez Leyva posted on social media a description of the attack and a photo of a car with bullets in it.
He said the attack occurred just before midnight on a street near his home and was saved by the fact that his SUV was bulletproof.
“Two men on motorbikes shot me 200 yards from my house with clear intent to kill me,” Gomez Leyva wrote. Photos show that at least two bullets struck the vehicle’s driver’s side window.
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Mexico City’s public prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation.
15 people have died so far this year, making it the worst ever for Mexican media workers. But the killings and almost all the attacks target journalists in provincial towns.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has often verbally argued with Gómez Leyva, condemned the attack.
The skyline of Mexico City, Mexico, taken on September 23, 2022. A prominent Mexican journalist survived a shooting near his home in Mexico City.
(Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“He’s a journalist, he’s a human being, he’s a public opinion leader, and hurting someone like Ciro creates a lot of political instability,” Lopez Obrador said.
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“We have differences. They are notoriously public. We will continue to have them,” the president said.
On a popular morning radio show, Gomez Leyva said of the president:
Lopez Obrador frequently uses his daily two-hour morning press conference to denounce Gómez Leiva and other high-profile journalists who criticize him for being part of a conservative conspiracy against his regime. increase.
The president frequently verbally attacks journalists, calling them names like “sold out,” “mercenaries,” and “thugs.” News outlets say the president’s hostile comments make journalists less safe in Mexico.
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2022 is one of the deadliest countries ever for journalists in Mexico, and it is now considered the most dangerous country for reporters outside of conflict zones.
Organized crime is often involved in the killing of journalists, but small-town officials and politicians with political or criminal motives are also often suspects. Journalists who run small media outlets in inland Mexico are easy targets.
