MEXICO CITY, March 16, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The director of western Mexico
news outlet Monitor Michoacan was murdered Tuesday, according to local
prosecutor's office -- his death marks the eighth killing of a media worker
in the country so far in 2022.

   In a statement, the Michoacan prosecutor's office said Armando Linares was
murdered "this afternoon in a private home."

   Linares' murder came just six weeks after one of his colleagues at the
Monitor Michoacan, Roberto Toledo, was also murdered.

   After Toledo's death on January 31, Linares denounced threats against him
and his team for having exposed corruption.  "We are not armed, we do not
bring weapons. Our only defense is a pen, a pencil," Linares said in a video.

   Linares is the eighth journalist murdered so far this year in Mexico, one
of the most dangerous countries for media workers, according to Reporters
Without Borders and Article 19.

   Before him, Juan Carlos Muniz, Heber Lopez, Lourdes Maldonado, Margarito
Martinez, Roberto Toledo, Jose Luis Gamboa and Jorge Luis Camero were also
killed.

   According to Reporters Without Borders, some 150 journalists have been
slain in Mexico since 2000.