Journalist José Carlos González Herrera, known online as “El Guerrero” or also “El Fénix,” was murdered on May 15, 2025 in Acapulco, in the Mexican state of Guerrero. He was a well-known digital content creator and ran the El Guerrero Facebook page, Opinión Ciudadana, dedicated to local news, satire, and social complaints. According to police reconstructions, he was killed by an armed commando while in his car in the center of the city. Acapulco is plagued by violence related to organized crime gangs vying for lucrative drug trafficking routes.
This incident comes amid a climate of increasing danger to journalists in Mexico, one of the world’s deadliest countries for the press. Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been murdered, often in contexts linked to organized crime and with an extremely high rate of impunity.
In Acapulco, the situation is particularly dramatic: in 2023, two similar incidents involved other local journalists. Alan Castro Abarca survived an ambush, while Nelson Matus Peña, editor of Lo Real de Guerrero, was killed in a public parking lot. These cases have raised strong criticism against the authorities for their lack of protection toward those who diffuse information, fueling a climate of fear, self-censorship and distrust of the state.
González’s death is just the latest tragic example in a long series, once again underscoring the urgent need for effective measures to protect press freedom in Mexico.
