Journalist shot dead in Mexico after blaming state government for death threats
A journalist who reported receiving death threats last year was shot and killed in southern Mexico, according to officials. He is the seventh journalist killed in Mexico this year and the second in less than a week.
Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar, 60, was shot Wednesday in a residential neighborhood in San Pablo Etla, a town in the state of Oaxaca.
Leyva had worked as a journalist for nearly 30 years and previously led Oaxaca’s state-owned radio and television network. He most recently wrote an online political column that was published by several local news outlets.
One day before he was killed, Leyva published a column criticizing Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara and members of his administration.
Leyva reported receiving death threats in July 2025 after the state government publicly criticized his reporting during a segment at the governor’s press conferences, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Leyva said news outlets and social media accounts subsequently launched a smear campaign against him and that he received death threats from unidentified callers. He blamed Jara and said the governor would be responsible if anything happened to him.
The journalist filed a complaint against Jara and two other state officials. Federal prosecutors investigated the threats but did not provide him with protection before transferring the case to state authorities, according to RSF.
Oaxaca prosecutors said investigators are reviewing surveillance footage and collecting evidence from the scene. No arrests have been announced and a motive has not been disclosed.
Leyva is the seventh journalist killed in Mexico so far this year, according to RSF. His killing comes less than a week after journalist Josué Martínez Contreras was murdered in the state of Puebla.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
