‘We only have a pen’: fury as fourth journalist killed in Mexico this year

Journalists in Mexico have responded with fury and despair at the murder of a fourth reporter in the country this year, cementing its reputation as the world's most murderous country for media workers.

Roberto Toledo was shot dead by three gunmen on Monday afternoon in a carpark in the city of Zitácuaro, where he reported for a local news outlet, Monitor Michoacán. Zitácuaro is best known for the nearby monarch butterfly reserves, but the region is rife with violence as drug cartels and criminal groups fight to control illegal logging.

"Exposing corruption led to the death of one of our colleagues," said Armando Linares, the director of Monitor Michoacán, in video posted on Facebook. Linares broke down in tears before offering his apologies to Toledo's family.

"[Toledo] lost his life at the hands of three people who shot him in a mean and cowardly manner," he continued. "We don't carry weapons. We only have a pen and a notebook to defend ourselves."

The killing deepened the sense of desperation among journalists in Mexico, who accuse Andrés Manuel López Obrador of failing to take meaningful actions to protect them and their colleagues.

"In López Obrador's discourse, he says, 'the state no longer persecutes journalists' and he's correct," said Javier Garza, a journalist in the city of Torreón. "But he doesn't stop any of the other actors" from attacking members of the press.

In response the recent spate of killings, the president, known as Amlo, has instead blamed the legacy of "neoliberalism" and claimed that political opponents were stirring outrage over the murder of reporters to discredit his government.