Alejandro Zenón Fonseca Estrada

EXA FM

September 24, 2008, in Villahermosa, Mexico

Fonseca, host of a morning talk show on the local radio station EXA FM, was hanging anticrime posters on a major street in Villahermosa, capital of the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco, around 9 p.m. on September 23 when he was approached by four unidentified men riding in a van, witnesses told local police and reporters. One of the posters read, "No to Kidnappings," while another declared support for Tabasco's governor, Andrés Granier Melo.

Witnesses said the assailants berated Fonseca and then shot him at close range. Fonseca was taken to a local hospital, where he died from chest wounds early the next morning, according to press reports. The assailants were said to be armed with AR-15 rifles.

Fonseca, known by the affectionate Mexican nickname "The Godfather," hosted the morning call-in show "El Padrino Fonseca" (The Godfather Fonseca), geared toward young listeners, for 10 years. Earlier in September, Fonseca had announced that he planned to put up posters as part of his ongoing campaign against violence in Tabasco, according to press reports and CPJ interviews. Colleagues told CPJ that Fonseca was a well-known and respected radio personality in Tabasco, especially among young listeners.

The federal attorney general's office said it would join in the local investigation because of the type of weapon used, local press reports said. On October 5, Tabasco authorities said they had identified two suspects through surveillance videos taken at the scene of the shooting, according to Mexican press reports.

Ricardo López Ortiz, a reputed member of Los Zetas, the enforcement arm of the Gulf drug cartel, was arrested October 30 and charged several days later in the killing.

Alex Alvarez Gutiérrez, deputy prosecutor for the Tabasco attorney general's office, told CPJ that the murder was a direct result of the journalist's anticrime campaign. Gerardo Priego Tapia, who heads a congressional committee on violence against the press, said that Fonseca was outspoken in denouncing violence.

Medium: Radio

Job: Columnist / Commentator

Beats Covered: Crime

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Criminal Group

Impunity: Yes

Taken Captive: No

Tortured: No

Threatened: No