Journalist found dead in northwestern Mexico

A crime reporter was found dead in northwestern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday — the latest alleged murder in one of the deadliest years for the country’s press.

The body of Juan Arjon Lopez, an independent journalist who ran a news page on Facebook, was discovered in San Luis Rio Colorado in the northwestern state of Sonora near the US border.

The 62-year-old was identified from his fingerprints, a Sonora Attorney General’s Office source told AFP, hours after prosecutor Indira Contreras told reporters a body with tattoos matching Arjon’s had been found.

He was reported missing on August 9th.

An autopsy found the cause of death to be blunt trauma, the attorney general’s office said in a statement, adding that it was not ruling out any line of investigation.

Arjon had worked alternately as a reporter and at a local restaurant, media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

His latest messages on his Facebook page What are you afraid of were about a drug seizure and the recovery of several stolen goods.

At least 13 journalists have been murdered so far this year in Mexico, one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the press, according to media rights groups.

More than 150 media workers have been killed in the Latin American country since 2000, and only a fraction of the crimes have led to convictions.