Mexican journalist Eduardo Flores Salado was found dead on the outskirts of Acapulco on Saturday night, and state prosecutors have opened a murder investigation, in the latest killing of a reporter in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
Flores Salado, known to colleagues as “Lalito”, covered security, social issues and missing persons for the Acapulco outlet Enfoque Informativo. His body was found on a street in the Canuto Nogueda neighbourhood, near the village of La Sabana, on the edge of the Pacific resort city in the southern state of Guerrero.
FAKTA
- Who: Eduardo Flores Salado, journalist with Enfoque Informativo in Acapulco, with more than 20 years in the profession.
- Found: Saturday night, 14 November, at around 21:00, on Calle Revolución in the Canuto Nogueda neighbourhood, near La Sabana, Acapulco, Guerrero.
- Investigation: Guerrero state prosecutors have opened an aggravated homicide investigation. No arrests have been made and no motive has been established.
- Cause of death: Not yet confirmed by prosecutors. Local media, citing initial police reports, said the body showed apparent signs of strangulation.
- Context: The press-freedom group Article 19 has documented 181 killings of journalists in Mexico since 2000.
Eduardo Flores Salado killed in Acapulco
According to local media, a woman called the emergency number 911 at around 21:28 on Saturday to report a man lying on the road. Municipal police arrived and confirmed the man showed no signs of life. The area was cordoned off while state investigators carried out their work, and the body was taken to the forensic medical service, where family members identified him as Eduardo Flores Salado.
His employer, Enfoque Informativo, said in a statement that the killing was a direct attack on freedom of expression. “This attack not only takes the life of a colleague, friend, and valuable human being; it constitutes a direct attack on freedom of expression,” the outlet said. “They will not silence us. We will continue to report with the same determination and professional ethics that characterized the work of Eduardo Flores Salado.”
The outlet called on state prosecutors to run a thorough and transparent investigation and hold those responsible to account.
Acapulco Bay in Guerrero, Mexico. Flores Salado was found dead on the outskirts of the resort city on Saturday night.
Mexico’s deadly record for journalists
Mexico consistently ranks among the deadliest countries for reporters. Article 19, the London-based advocacy group, has documented 181 such cases since 2000, many of them concentrated in states with a strong presence of organised crime groups, including six in the first seven months of 2026. These murders are rarely solved, and last year Reporters Without Borders ranked Mexico as the second-most dangerous place to work for journalists after Gaza.
Flores Salado’s death follows that of Roxana Guzman, who directed the Veracruz crime news outlet Pulso Informativo del Sureste. A video she recorded of masked men breaking down her front door before her abduction on 2 June was widely shared on social media. Her remains were found a month later.
It is the second killing of a journalist reported in Guerrero this year, after Manuel Alejandro Mora Serna, known as “Alex Serna”, who was reported missing in June and later found dead in July.
Flores Salado worked for more than two decades in media in Guerrero. He previously worked at the now-closed newspaper Novedades Acapulco and later joined Enfoque Informativo, part of Grupo Nájera Multimedios, where he covered security, tourism, culture, entertainment and civic issues. He was also a founder of the Prensa Rosa collective of journalists.
What happens next
The Guerrero prosecutors’ office said investigators and forensic staff have begun work to clarify the killing, but it has not said how Flores Salado was killed, confirmed any arrests, or established a possible motive or any link between the killing and his journalism. Local media report that the state prosecutors are expected to activate the protocol for crimes against freedom of expression and notify the federal special prosecutor for such crimes.
The Federation of Journalists of Acapulco and other colleagues mourned Flores Salado and demanded that the authorities clarify the killing and identify those responsible.
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