Mexican journalist who denounced drug cartels and human trafficking is murdered

Santiago Barroso Alfaro

, a Mexican journalist who often covered crime and drug cartels in the state of Sonora died on Friday night after being gunned down at point-blank range in his home near the U.S. border , local authorities said on Saturday.

Santiago Barroso

was shot multiple times after an unknown assailant knocked on his front door, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He was pronounced dead at a hospital .

Barroso worked as a multimedia journalist in the border town of San Luis Río Colorado, about 20 miles southwest of Yuma, Arizona on the U.S . side. He was the host of a local radio show , director of the news website Red 563 , and a contributor to weekly newspaper Contraseña .

While it was unclear if the murder was linked to his work, Barroso ’s death marks the sixth journalist killed in Mexico this year, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters .

Alfonso Durazo

, Mexico’s Security Minister , pledged federal government assistance in the investigation into Barroso ’s murder in a post on Twitter .

Meanwhile, the Undersecretary of Human Rights , Population , and Migration , from the Interior Ministry , Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez said the government will clear the events and will prevent this type of crimes . Encinas Rodríguez said the journalist didn't report threats against him.

Mexico

's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) said that from 2000 to 2019 , 145 journalists have been murdered.

The last article he wrote was “San Luis Río Colorado, El Chapo's Route ."

On February 15, the published an analysis about Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and how he became interested in including the San Luis Río Colorado-San Luis, Arizona route on the drug trade .

In his article, he mentioned the origins and the way the Sinaloa cartel operated under Guzmán and linked them to locals.

The majority of his work included the illegal drug trade , human trafficking , and impunity .

Samir Flores, activist and radio host, murdered in Mexico

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