Murders of Mexican journalists nearly double in 2025, advocacy group says

By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY, May 6 (Reuters) – Eight journalists disappeared or were murdered in Mexico in 2025, the UK-based journalist advocacy group Article 19 said in a report published on Wednesday, which named Mexico ​as the country in Latin America with the highest rates of ‌censorship and judicial harassment against the press.

“In 2025, Mexico recorded one disappearance and seven murders of journalists, once again topping the regional list,” the organization said in the report, comparing the tally to four journalists murdered in 2024.

The report also highlighted that Mexico saw ‌53 ​physical attacks against reporters, surpassing 10 in Honduras and ⁠nine in Guatemala.

The murders of ⁠journalists primarily occurred in states with high levels of violence and a strong presence of criminal organizations, including Durango, the State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Guerrero, and the U.S. border state of Sonora.

Mexico also set a record ​for judicial harassment against the press last year, the report said.

“The abuse of public power has consolidated itself as the second leading mechanism of ⁠harassment against the press in Mexico and ⁠as the fastest-growing trend documented by Article 19 in the ​country, with 153 cases,” the report said.

In cases where victims or their families ​have made accusations, the report said nearly one in every three ‌aggressors was a public official.

2025 was the first full year under the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October 2024.

A spokesperson for Sheinbaum did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Article 19’s ⁠report.

“We call on society not to get used to this and not to normalize the idea that reporting can end a person’s life, that searching for the ⁠disappeared is a death ‌sentence, and that asking questions is a risk,” Leopoldo ⁠Maldonado, the regional director for Mexico and Central America ​at Article ‌19, said during the report’s presentation.

In February, the Committee ​to Protect ⁠Journalists, a New York-based organization, named Mexico the deadliest country for journalists in 2025 outside Gaza, Yemen, and Sudan – all active war zones. It said that a record 129 journalists and media workers were killed globally in the course of their work last year, two-thirds of them killed by Israel.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, ​Editing by David Gregorio)