Mexican journalist is killed

The local correspondent for Mexico’s top television news network was shot to death late Friday, the latest in a wave of journalist killings that has made this country one of the most dangerous for reporters in the Western Hemisphere.

Televisa’s Amado Ramirez was shot by two men who were waiting for him at his car after his radio show, state security official Felipe Flores said. He died on the steps of the nearby Hotel California as he tried to escape. Televisa confirmed the death on its nightly broadcast.

The shooting happened on the outskirts of Acapulco’s busy central plaza, which was packed with tourists and hundreds of people attending a Good Friday Mass at the resort’s cathedral. No one else was injured.

The gunmen escaped, and the motive for the killing was not clear.

Ramirez had covered Acapulco for Televisa for more than a dozen years, reporting on crime, politics and a host of other issues.

His radio program Friday focused on criticizing leftist Guerrero state Gov. Carlos Zeferino Torreblanca for refusing to give his second state-of-the-state address in front of the legislature. The governor instead chose to give his report in written form.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Assn. has reported at least seven journalists slain in Mexico since October on orders from drug gangs. Two others have disappeared.