7 journalists were killed within a year in Mexico

7 journalists were killed within a year in Mexico. 

MEXICO CITY: The director of a media organization in a gang-infested state in western Mexico was shot and killed Tuesday, police said. 

It’s marking the seventh death of a journalist this year in a bloodbath that has sparked international outrage.

According to the state attorney general’s office, Armando Linares, the director of Monitor Michoacan, was shot and killed at home in Zitacuaro, Michoacan.

In January, shooters also assassinated Roberto Toledo, another employee at the same media organization as Linares.

Linares said the news organization had been receiving threats due to its reporting on corruption in local government when he announced Toledo’s death on social media at the time.

Michoacan has long been torn apart by turf warfare between powerful gangs vying to control the illicit drug industry.

According to a journalist who did not want to be identified, Linares had received threats before death.

Members of Congress from the United States and Europe have urged Mexico to strengthen journalist rights.

Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution asking Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to be less hostile to the media, triggering a blistering response from the Mexican government, which called the legislation “slanderous.”