Gabriel Soriano, Another Journalist Murdered in Mexico

Journalist Gabriel Soriano was murdered this week in Guerrero, Mexico. According to the records of the United Nations, Soriano became the tenth journalists murdered this year. International human right groups, the United Nations, and the European Union have condemned Soriano’s murder.

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“The murder of Gabriel is a new terrible reminder that violence against journalists in the country does not stop, reinforcing what we already know: Mexico is one the most dangerous countries in the world for those for whom the work of informing society is their passion and profession,” UN representative in Mexico Jan Jarab said in a press release published Thursday.

Gabriel Soriano was a radio host and hip-hop artist, who worked for Radio and Television de Guerrero, a public media outlet. He was murdered Wednesday by unknown armed assailants, who attacked him while he was on the Cayaco-Puerto Marques highway. 

Jarab also called on the Mexican government and authorities to guarantee a safe environment for journalists in the country. "It is urgent that the measures adopted by the authorities to guarantee the safe exercise of journalism provide tangible results. One of the main preventive measures is the fight against impunity in which most of these aggressions remain," the press release reads.

The European Union and the governments of Norway and Switzerland also published a communique to condemn the crime. 

"We express our concern over the lack of results in the open investigations to clarify previous cases where journalists and human rights defenders have been murdered in Mexico, and we reiterate our call to the competent Mexican authorities to deploy all the possible efforts and carry out a fast and transparent investigation with the goal of identifying and sentencing those responsible," the joint communique states.   

Soriano's relatives and friends marched in Acapulco Thursday to demand justice for Soriano. "We demand the arrest of the person who ended the life of a young man who leaves orphaned children who will never see their father again and a family," a colleague said, stressing journalists live with the uncertainty of whether their friends and relatives will "come back home alive." 

His daughter, Sam Soriano, demanded governor Hector Astudillo to do his job and fic the situation of rampant violence that is affecting the state of Guerrero. During Astudillo's administration, three journalists have been murdered in the state. 

According to the organization Reporters on Guard, at least 65 journalists have been murdered during the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto. On Thursday they laid the portraits of the 65 journalists in the Mexico City's Zocalo or Main Square to demand safety.

"We will continue working on the justice Mexico needs," the group tweeted Thursday.