A Blow to Mexican Journalism

The assassination of Mexican journalist Benjamin Flores Gonzalez, a crusader against the drug trade and the horrors it has brought to Mexico, ranks at the pinnacle of cowardice in these troubled times. The Mexican government should muster all available resources to bring the killer of the 29-year-old editor to justice.

Flores Gonzalez owned and ran La Prensa, a small newspaper in the town of San Luis Rio Colorado, across the border from Yuma, Ariz. He had a deserved reputation for aggressive coverage of the cross-border drug trade and was the target of frequent threats. Last May he published a major expose on the disappearance of half a ton of confiscated cocaine that was stored at the Federal Judicial Police Headquarters in San Luis, an act of courageous, dangerous journalism.

Tuesday, Flores Gonzalez parked his pickup truck outside the newspaper office and a car pulled up behind him. A gunman carrying an automatic rifle jumped out and fired an entire clip of bullets into the editor, then returned to his car for a 22-caliber pistol and fired three more shots into Flores Gonzalez’s head.

The murder came at a hard time for Mexican journalists. The country is going through a transformation in customs, economics and politics. Newspapers are taking forthright stands they might not have adopted a few years ago. Reporters fear, rightfully, that they might become targets for assassins. Media reports on the drug trade and its connections with some in government have heightened the tension.

Journalists know the risks and increasingly, in a changing Mexico, they are accepting them. The Mexican government is responsible for the safety of all its citizens, including journalists. It should spare nothing in the pursuit of the killer of Benjamin Flores Gonzalez.