Police members and investigators stand next to the body of El Imparcial newspaper photojournalist Alberto Lopez Bello and another yet unidentified, in a cornfield of La Humedad, in the municipality of Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico on July 17, 2013. The body of the Mexican journalist specialized in police affairs was found in the morning with gunshot wounds, in an area of the city of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the press. AFP PHOTO
MEXICO CITY — A newspaper in the southern state of Oaxaca says one of its police beat reporters has been found dead.
El Imparcial newspaper condemned the killing of reporter Alberto Lopez, who was found Wednesday along with another unidentified man on a street in Oaxaca City.
The daily demanded authorities conduct a thorough investigation and find those responsible for the slaying in a two-paragraph statement posted on its website.
Officials confirmed Lopez’s body was found but wouldn’t say how he was killed or why.
Oaxaca state has remained mostly free of drug-related violence that has affected other areas of Mexico, where journalists have been targeted.
The National Human Rights Commission says at least 84 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000.