Luis Angel Lopez Valdez, a crime reporter for Vanguardia de Veracruz, was shot dead early Thursday in Poza Rica, Veracruz, the Vanguardia newspaper said.
Vanguardia said Lopez Valdez "was killed early Thursday morning in (the city of) Poza Rica, after being intercepted by armed men while driving" and that he had already received threats while local authorities had taken measures to protect him.
The publication called for "justice" so that the reporter's death "does not go unpunished," Vanguardia said.
Reporters Without Borders wrote on X, "As the country opened the 2026 @FIFAWorldCup, journalist Luis Angel Lopez Valdez of Vanguardia de Veracruz was murdered," and said at least nine journalists were killed in 2025 and that it had recorded more than 150 journalists killed in Mexico since 1994, calling for an "urgent investigation and stronger safeguards for the press."
A search continues after two men broke into the home of journalist Roxana Guzman, director of the digital news site Pulso Informativo, and kidnapped her; footage shows armed assailants breaking through the front door before entering and threatening Guzman, and her whereabouts remain unknown.
The Veracruz State Attorney General's Office confirmed prosecutors, forensic experts and investigative police officers were looking for the journalist, and President Claudia Sheinbaum said federal and state authorities were handling the case.
Guzman's partner, Carlos Fernández Escalante, was shot dead in 2017, and journalist Carlos Castro was shot dead in Veracruz in January. The Committee to Protect Journalists and Article 19 said Mexico had its deadliest year for journalists in 2022 with 13 killings, and a 2024 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International said Mexico fails in its efforts to provide state-sanctioned protection, adding "Impunity is the norm in crimes against the press."