The murder of journalist Carlos Castro, which occurred on January 8 in Veracruz, was condemned this Friday by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), as he was the eleventh journalist who has been murdered since the beginning of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s mandate.
In a statement, the organization urged the authorities to advance the investigation in the Castro case with “rigor and total transparency” and to consider “priority the possible relationship of the crime with his journalistic work,” in a context marked by persistent violence against the press in the country.
“Starting 2026 with the murder of a journalist, after 2025 that was already the deadliest year for the press in Mexico in the last three years, sends an extremely alarming signal,” said RSF director Arturo Romeu.
RSF reported that Castro, 25, had been “threatened a little over two years ago by municipal police in Poza Rica,” where he was murdered yesterday, “which led to his incorporation into the local protection mechanism in April 2024.”
“Out of fear for his life, the journalist was forced to temporarily leave the city, before returning to the city in August 2025 and resuming his work,” the document stated.
Additional information: Authorities admit that journalist murdered in Veracruz no longer had protection
He also specified that, according to the CEAPP, “the protection measures” for the communicator were suspended in 2024, considering that “the issue had been addressed.”
Likewise, he reported that the Veracruz Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation folder into Castro’s murder, while the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) condemned the crime and demanded that justice be done.
Finally, the organization maintained that in Sheinbaum’s second year, there is “again the opportunity – and the responsibility – to prevent 2026 from reproducing this pattern of lethal violence.”
Castro was director of the Facebook information page Code North of Veracruz, specialized in security issues in the northern part of the entity, and was shot dead in the town of Poza Rica by unidentified armed men who entered the TrogueBirria food establishment, where the journalist was having dinner.
The reporter had also collaborated with other local media such as Vanguardia, La Opinión de Poza Rica and the Enfoque portal, covering mainly local police sources, including arrests, accidents, homicides, kidnappings and corruption cases involving authorities.
According to RSF, in Veracruz there is a “climate of growing hostility against the press,” which has “reported repeated intimidation, kidnapping attempts and the lack of resources on the part of the authorities to guarantee their safety.”
In 2025, Mexico was ranked as the second “most dangerous to practice journalism,” only behind Gaza where the Israeli invasion left more than 120 journalists murdered.
With information from EFE
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