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UN agency condemns killing of two journalists in Mexico

UN agency condemns killing of two journalists in Mexico

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
The head of the United Nations agency mandated to protect the freedom of expression today strongly condemned the murder of two journalists in Mexico, a crime that reportedly brings to six the number of media professionals killed in that country this year.

Juan Francisco Rodríguez Ríos and his wife María Elvira Hernández Galeana were killed in the western Mexican state of Guerrero on 28 June.

“I strongly condemn the murder of Juan Francisco Rodríguez and María Elvira Ríos Hernández Galeana. These two new murders again marred a profession,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

"I urge the Mexican authorities to do everything in their power to find those responsible and bring them to justice because such crimes must not go unpunished,” she added.

Mr. Ríos, correspondent for the newspaper El Sol de Acapulco in the city of Coyuca de Benítez, and his wife María Elvira, a freelance journalist, were gunned down while working in a cybercafé they owned. Mr. Ríos was also the local leader of the National Union of Press Editors. He had recently condemned the harassment of journalists in the region.