Gunmen shoot at the office building of a respected Mexican newspaper in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa.
Gunmen shot at a building housing the respected Mexican media outlet El Debate as part of an ongoing battle against drug cartels.
On Friday the media building was shelled with gunfire and several cars outside were also damaged.
The newspaper said no one was injured in the attack. The newspaper El Debate is based in Culiacán, the state capital, where there has been an increase in violent shootouts between rival Sinaloa Cartel gangs since September. The newspaper has been publishing articles about gang attacks in the northwestern state.
El Debate said the attackers arrived in two vehicles and stopped briefly in front of the building. An armed man emerged and opened fire with a rifle before speeding away.
Journalists threatened
Threats against journalists and their sources have increased since the latest round of fighting broke out.
Journalists reported that they were stopped by armed men on the roads outside Culiacán and told they could not cover the continued shootings taking place on the outskirts.
The Mexican Media Alliance, a press freedom group, calls this shooting “a direct attack on press freedom and the public's right to be informed.”
Being a journalist in Mexico is a dangerous business, according to Reporters Without Borders. The organization has documented the death and disappearance of reporters in the country. In the last six years alone, 37 have been murdered and five have disappeared.
The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said that she “condemns” the attack against El Debate.
His government has sent military personnel with armored vehicles and high-powered weapons to Sinaloa to protect the population, but troops have struggled to quell the violence.
