Tijuana

Veteran Mexican Journalist Killed in Tijuana — Second This Week

Lourdes Maldonado López went to one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily morning news conferences in 2019 and asked for his support, help and labor justice. “Because I fear for my life,” she said.

File photo of a police car.
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A journalist was killed Sunday, the second in a week’s time in the northern Mexico border city of Tijuana, and the third in Mexico this month.

Lourdes Maldonado López was found shot to death inside a car, according to a statement from the Baja California state prosecutor’s office. Authorities had received a 911 call around 7 p.m. and found Maldonado dead on arrival.

In 2019, Maldonado came to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily morning news conference and asked for his support, help and labor justice. “Because I fear for my life,” she said.

Maldonado had been locked in a years-long labor dispute with Jaime Bonilla, who was elected governor of Baja California later that year as a candidate from López Obrador’s Morena party. He left office late last year.

Maldonado had recently announced that she won her dispute with a media company Bonilla owned after nine years of litigation.

Maldonado had collaborated with many outlets, but recently was doing a internet, radio and television show, “Brebaje,” focused on local news.

Last Monday, photographer Margarito Martínez was gunned down outside his home. He was well-known for covering the crime scene in violence-plagued Tijuana. He worked for the local news outlet Cadena Noticias, as well as for other national and international media outlets.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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