José Carlos González Herrera, aged 39, was killed by armed individuals who intercepted him in central Acapulco, a city in Guerrero state, and shot him multiple times. He died at the scene.

José Carlos González Herrera played a key role in highlighting citizen reports of corruption, state violence, and abuses of power in one of the Mexican states most affected by organised crime. With a satirical, critical approach, he created a persona that reported the news a luchador mask — a symbol deeply rooted in Mexican popular culture. In June 2023, the journalist survived a similar attack, which he publicly attributed to organised crime. Despite these threats, José Carlos González Herrera was not under the protection of the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

"It is outrageous that yet another journalist has been brutally murdered in Mexico. We cannot allow independent and critical journalism to continue being the target of threats and attacks, nor accept that these crimes go unpunished. RSF demands a swift and thorough investigation into the murder of journalist José Carlos González Herrera. It is urgent that President Claudia Sheinbaum implements concrete measures to strengthen journalist protection and combat impunity.

A bloody year

José Carlos González Herrera is a new name on an ever-growing list; he is the fourth Mexican journalist killed in 2025. In January, Calletano de Jesús Guerrero, a journalist for the digital media outlet Global México, was killed while under state protection. In March, Kristian Zavala, journalist and director of the news page El Silaoense Mx, was shot dead in his vehicle. The body of Raúl Irán Villarreal Belmont, director of the digital media outlet Observatorio Ciudadano, was found with multiple gunshot wounds, just hours after he was abducted by an armed group. Both were from the state of Guanajuato.

During her campaign for presidency, Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to RSF that she would intensify efforts to combat impunity for crimes against journalists, particularly by improving coordination with the public prosecutor’s office to ensure effective investigations into the killings and disappearances of journalists. Since then, the government has been slow in fulfilling this commitment, resulting in a further decline in the country's position in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index. Mexico currently ranks 124th out of the 180 countries and territories analysed in the Index.