López’s
body was found on July 17 in Oaxaca City, the capital of Oaxaca state. A
spokesman for the state Attorney General who spoke to CPJ on condition of
anonymity said López had been beaten and shot and that his body was found with
that of another man, Arturo Alejandro Franco, who has been identified in news
reports as an undercover police informant. Oaxaca City officials said Franco
was a city employee. Police said he had been beaten and shot as well.
López,
28, had worked as a reporter for about six years for statewide newspaper El Imparcial, according to local
journalists who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. The sources
said López had worked the police beat and had recently published several
stories about drug sales in the city.
López
also covered police news for “Foro Político,” a local radio program on Radiorama
station. Sofia Valdivia, who worked at Radiorama and oversaw López’s work, said
he regularly reported on organized crime and that police were sometimes said to
be involved.
Reporters
covering the police beat in Mexico are vulnerable to threats from organized
crime cartels and from the police who often work for the gangs, CPJ research
shows. Organized crime groups in many states control drug production and
distribution down the street level and often pay off or terrorize police into
ignoring their operations.