Officer arrested in killing of Mexican journalist

OAXACA, Mexico — Mexican authorities have arrested a local police chief in connection with the murder of a journalist in the southern state of Oaxaca, among the latest reporters killed in the country.

Marcos Hernández Bautista, a 38-year-old correspondent for the newspaper Noticias Voz, was shot dead in the Pacific coast town of San Andrés Huaxpaltepec on January 21. He also worked as the town’s cultural advisor.

“The alleged perpetrator was identified as Jorge Armando Santiago Martínez,” commander of the Santiago Jamiltepec municipal police force, the Oaxaca state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The officer was detained on Thursday in the streets of Santiago Jamiltepec, a town near the scene of the crime. Another man, who is still at large, participated in the murder, authorities said.

Hernández’s murder was followed a day later by the killing of Reinel Martínez Cerqueda, 43, a radio commentator in the Oaxaca town of Santiago Laollaga.

A total of four journalists have been murdered in Mexico in the first two months of the year.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with four killed in the first two months of the year.

At least 91 have been murdered and 17 have gone missing since 2000, according to Reporters Without Borders.