Ramírez was the second Mexican journalist killed in less than 24 hours following the 29 October shooting of Mauricio Cruz Solís.
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 31 October 2024.
Mexican authorities must immediately and transparently investigate Wednesday’s killing of journalist Patricia Ramírez González, also known as Paty Bunbury, in the city of Colima, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
Ramírez, an entertainment reporter for the privately owned Hechos newspaper, was the second Mexican journalist killed in less than 24 hours following Tuesday’s shooting of Mauricio Cruz Solís. The killings occurred during the first month of Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration.
“The brutal killing of Paty Bunbury is especially shocking, as it comes less than a day after her colleague Mauricio Cruz was killed,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “The killings demonstrate the urgent need for President Sheinbaum to take steps to protect the press from violence.”
According to a statement by the Colima state prosecutor’s office (FGE), Ramírez was shot by a single, unidentified individual at around 2 p.m. in the eatery she runs in Colima’s state capital as a side job to her work as a journalist.
The FGE has not stated whether they’re investigating whether her reporting was a possible motive and did not answer several telephone calls for comment by CPJ.
Mario Alberto Gaitán, the vice president of local journalists’ association Periodistas Colimenses, told CPJ via telephone that Ramírez did not cover politics, crime, or security and had not reported having received threats.
