Mexican Journalist Armando Linares Killed 6 Weeks After Colleague's Murder

On Wednesday, his wife, children, siblings and friends prepared to see him off inside a small funeral parlor. 

After initially halting his reporting for a few weeks and closing the Monitor Michoacan office following the killing of camera operator Roberto Toledo, Linares returned to reporting and resumed publishing the online news site.

He wrote stories about the monarch butterflies that winter in the mountains around Zitacuaro, butterfly-related festivities and other hyper-local and state news 바카라� but gone was the criticism of local officials he was known for before Toledo's killing.

Still, the threat for journalists had persisted, something Linares seemed to expect.

On Jan. 31, the day Toledo was killed, Linares looked straight at the camera and said, 바카라�There are names. We know where all of this comes from.바카라�

바카라�The Monitor Michoacan team has been suffering a series of death threats,바카라� he said. 바카라�Exposing the corruption of corrupt governments, corrupt officials and politicians today has led to the death of one of our friends.바카라�

Linares told The Associated Press shortly afterward that he had continued receiving threats, enrolled in the federal government's protection program for journalists and was receiving protection from the National Guard.

바카라�He never gave in to anyone,바카라� said Liares' wife Rosa Elena Pedraza. 바카라�He died doing what he liked, he was a courageous man.바카라� 

She said Linares had government protection for a month after Toledo's killing, but said later it was lifted. 바카라�If everything is calm they take away the protection,바카라� she said. 

On Tuesday evening, Linares was shot and killed at his Zitacuaro home. His body was found in the doorway with gunshots to the chest, according to the state prosecutor's office. Authorities recovered 9mm shell casings at the scene. Authorities have not provided a suspected motive.

Magdalena Alonso, director of the news program Zitacuaro on the Air and a friend of Linares, said 바카라�for many motives it's easy for them to attack you ... because there isn't much security nor do authorities feel responsible for providing it.바카라�

Illustrating that point, an unidentified man approached a group of journalists Wednesday afternoon gathered in the entrance to the funeral home. He showed them a pistol hidden inside his clothing and told them they had two minutes to leave.

 President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, speaking at his daily news conference on Wednesday, said Linares had not accepted protection.

바카라�Michoacan's journalists ask all public servants to save their condolences,바카라� reporter Rodolfo Montes said during the president's news conference. 바카라�There is indignation ... there is fury, there is impotence at this wave of killings.바카라�

López Obrador repeated his promise that there would not be impunity in Linares' case and said there was no evidence public servants were responsible. But at another point, the president continued his frequent attacks on the press, alleging 바카라�lies바카라� and calling some 바카라�mercenaries.바카라� 

In Michoacan's state legislature, dozens of journalists stood at the front of the chamber holding signs that read: 바카라�Pacifist government doesn't kill journalists바카라� and 바카라�Press. Don't shoot.바카라�

A journalist group called 바카라�Not one more Michoacan바카라� said in a statement that 바카라�the calls to be alert and help from Armando where not listened to.바카라� It also criticized the state and federal governments for disparaging the professionalism of Monitor Michoacan and downplaying the threats its staff faced.

The killings of journalists have been coming at a rate of nearly one per week this year, an unprecedented spate of violence against the profession in Mexico. Advocates and the government have placed much of the blame on the high rate of impunity in killings of journalists and human rights defenders 바카라� as well as ordinary Mexicans.

Jan-Albert Hootsen, the representative in Mexico for the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists who had spoken with Linares after Toledo's killings, lamented his death.

바카라�In a world where disinformation and manipulating every narrative is an objective brutally pursued by those with power and willing to use deadly violence, journalists are legitimate targets and impunity is the most powerful tool to silence them,바카라� he said via Twitter.

Interior Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas said Wednesday during a freedom of expression event at the Norwegian embassy that 바카라�if there is not prevention, if there is not investigation and there isn't punishment, impunity will continue prevailing in these incidents.바카라� 

Linares did not want Toledo's killing to go unpunished. In his video, he addressed his colleague's family: 바카라�We aren't going to leave things like this. We are going to take them to their ultimate consequences.바카라�