Mexican photojournalist Margarito Martínez was shot to death

On January 17, Margarito Martínez, a freelance photographer, was fatally shot at his home in Tijuana, Baja California, in northern Mexico.

The Office of the State Prosecutor for Baja California (FGE) published a statement on Facebook saying Martínez was ambushed just afternoon at his residence in Tijuana, a coastal city just across the border from California. An unidentified gunman shot Mart*nez multiple times and fled the scene; Martínez died before he could be rushed to a hospital.

During a phone call with CPJ on Wednesday, a colleague and close friend of Martínez explained that he had returned briefly to his home after an assignment that day and was about to head out once again after taking photos from another area when he was ambushed. He told CPJ that he did not know what Martínezhad been photographing.

According to reports, Tijuana has become one of the most violent cities in Mexico in recent years. Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel, 49, was a veteran photographer with over two decades of experience as a journalist in the city. Photographing crime scenes as a freelancer, he worked for both Mexican and foreign news outlets. Various media outlets published his photos, including the weekly newspaper Zeta Tijuana, the newspaper La Jornada de Baja California, and the news website Cadena Noticias.

In December, Martínez reached out to state and federal authorities after disrupting an online exchange in which images of violent incidents were posted. Martínez had reported threats on several occasions during the past few years. A video of the altercation was posted on the over 120,000-followed Facebook page.    

As reported by colleagues, Martínez felt intimidated and threatened by the publication of the video and reported the incident to the state-run institution for protecting journalists in Baja California, which referred him to the federal Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Protection Mechanism, which operates under the auspices of the Mexican government.

An official of the Mechanism told CPJ that they had communicated with Martínez several times since December. They had sent him several forms to support his inclusion in a protection program, but Martínez had not responded to them.

Among Western Hemisphere countries, Mexico has the highest number of journalists killed. In 2021, at least three reporters were killed directly related to their work, and the CPJ is investigating six more deaths.  

* This article contains information sourced from the Committee to Protect Journalists.