By MELISSA T. CASTRO

Mexico holds the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like it’s a honorific that will be changing anytime soon.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Mauricio Solís Cruz, publisher of media Minuto x Minuto Michoacán, and host of Uruapan local radio program La Jirbilla Night Show, was shot dead by as-of-yet unidentified armed assailants.

Solis Cruz’s murder is the first killing of a journalist under the new government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, albeit not the first attack on the media since she took office on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

According to Reporters Without Borders more than 150 media members have been killed in Mexico in the last 30 years,

Members of the press are regularly targeted in Mexico, often in direct reprisal for their work.

For journalists who are brave enough to pursue a story delving into drug trafficking, the rampant violence of the cartels, or who allude to corruption and cartel infiltration within the government, there’s a reasonable expectation they will be reporting their last story.

All but a handful of the killings, abductions, or other crimes against the media are actually solved. In a report published in March, the Committee to Protect Journalists observed how “impunity is the norm in crimes against the press”.

Minutes before his murder, Solís Cruz had conducted a live on-air interview with Uruapan municipal president Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez.

The report was a light-hearted discussion on the Festival of Candles (Festival de Velas) – a Day of the Dead event set for Saturday, Nov. 2, to remember the deceased, little did Solís Cruz know that a candle would now be lit for him.