Journalist Hamurabi Huesca Manzano killed in Mexico’s Oaxaca

Conflicting reports emerge on the circumstances of the killing, prompting calls for justice from advocacy groups.

A journalist moonlighting as a taxi driver has been shot dead in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, the ninth killed in the country this year, according to human rights organisation Article 19.

Hamurabi Huesca Manzano, who owned the news website Pinotepa Comunica, was killed on Friday after an armed group opened fire on him and two others, according to the state prosecutor’s report.

The office said one line of inquiry suggests that a dispute happened between local criminal groups, and that the intended target of the shooting was a man known as “El Dario”.

El Dario, infamous for instigating violence on the Oaxaca coast, was wounded in the shooting and died in hospital hours later. According to prosecutors, Huesca Manzano was working as a taxi driver, waiting to take El Dario somewhere else when the journalist was shot dead.

The prosecutor’s office says the attackers have been “fully identified”, but did not name them or say whether Huesca Manzano’s journalistic work played any role.

Local reports give differing accounts of where the attack happened, as well; a number of them say Huesca Manzano was shot at his home and that a woman was also injured.

Article 19 condemned the killing and said on X: “We demand that the prosecutor’s office treat his journalistic work as a priority in its investigation.”

The mayor of San Miguel Tlacamama, Antonio Olmedo Mendoza, confirmed Manzano’s death and offered condolences in a statement, local media reported.

“With deep sorrow, I regret the passing of Hamurabi Sinclair Huesca Manzano,” he said, adding that he joined the grief of his family, friends and colleagues.

Mexico is notorious for being one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, with more than 150 media workers killed there since 1994, according to Reporters Without Borders.