Body of murdered journalist Rafael Murua Manriquez found in Mexico as country sets new homicide record

Director of community radio station was part of journalist protection programme for two years before death

Community radio director Rafael Murua Manriquez’s death is the latest in a long list of reporters who have fallen victim to record levels of violence Mexico (Facebook)

The body of a murdered journalist has been found in northwestern Mexico after the country set a new homicide record for 2018, authorities said.

The corpse of Rafael Murua Manriquez, 34, was found on Sunday afternoon by the side of a road between the towns of Santa Rosalia and San Ignacio in the state of Baja California Sur, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Mr Murua's body had wounds in the thorax, state prosecutors said, without giving more detail on the lesions.

His death is the latest in a long list of reporters who have fallen victim to record levels of violence in the country.

Murders in Mexico rose by 33 per cent in 2018 from the previous year with 33,341 murder probes recorded, according to information from the Interior Ministry published on Sunday.

These new figures have broken the country's homicide record for a second year running.

According to the advocacy group Article 19, Mr Murua was director of a community radio station in the state and had been in a programme offering protection to journalists at risk since 2017.

The journalist's death was the second to occur since president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office on 1 December.

Article 19, which defends freedom of expression and access to information, has documented the murder of 122 journalists in Mexico since 2000.

Reuters