Amado Ramírez Dillanes

Televisa and Radiorama

April 6, 2007, in Acapulco, Mexico

Ramírez, 50, Acapulco-based correspondent for Televisa and host of the daily news program “Al Tanto” on Radiorama, was shot after leaving Radiorama studios about 7:30 p.m. Ramírez had just stepped into his car when an assailant shot him twice from outside the driver’s window, a colleague told CPJ. A wounded Ramírez ran into the lobby of a nearby hotel, but the attacker followed and shot the journalist in the back, according to press reports.

 Within days, state officials detained two men, one of whom was soon released. The other suspect, Genaro Vázquez Durán, was convicted and sentenced in March 2009 to 38 years in prison. Federal authorities said Vázquez matched a description provided by witnesses and possessed illegal weapons of the type used in the murder. Vázquez’s lawyer told reporters that he would appeal.

Local human rights groups and journalists have expressed concern that no clear motive was established, that witnesses implicating Vázquez were not credible, and that some witnesses could not be placed at the crime scene. One witness, Salvador Cabrera, told an Acapulco court in November 2007 that he had been coerced into identifying Vázquez in a police lineup.

The Guerrero state attorney general’s office and the federal special prosecutor for crimes against journalists did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment.

Ramírez’s death occurred as rival drug cartels were battling for turf and engaging in waves of execution-style killings in and around Acapulco. In March 2007, he had aired a Televisa report linking the murders of local police officers to drug traffickers. Misael Habana de los Santos, Ramírez’s co-host at Radiorama, said the journalist had received several death threats by cell phone.

Medium: Radio, Television

Job: Broadcast Reporter

Beats Covered: Crime, Culture, Politics

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Criminal Group

Impunity: Partial

Taken Captive: No

Tortured: No

Threatened: Yes

Related Articles:

• Attacks on the Press 2009: Mexico, February 16, 2010
• Mexican journalist said things ‘very hard’ just before murder, February 9, 2010
• Three Killings, No Justice, June 7, 2008
• In meeting with Mexican ambassador, CPJ urges action on press attacks , May 9, 2007
• In Mexico, two men arrested in connection with journalist’s murder , April 11, 2007