Atilano Román Tirado, who led Displaced Persons of Picachos group, killed by gunmen while he presented weekly programme

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Two gunmen walked into a radio station and killed a local activist while he was presenting his weekly radio programme, prosecutors in the northern Mexico state of Sinaloa said. It was the first on-air killing in recent memory in Mexico.

The victim, Atilano Román Tirado, headed a group of about 800 farm families whose lands were flooded by dam construction several years ago. His group, the Displaced Persons of Picachos – named after the dam – has been demanding compensation for the land.

Román Tirado had a weekly variety programme on Fiesta Mexicana,a local radio station in the Pacific port of Mazatlan. In past years the Picachos movement had staged blockades and protest marches, which had resulted in arrests.

Sinaloa state prosecutors said two men walked into the station on Saturday and asked for Román Tirado. The station is in a building that also houses the newspaper El Sol de Mazatlan.

One of the men stood outside the studio where Román Tirado was broadcasting while the other walked in and shot him. He died at a local hospital.

His movement had become less active over the last couple of years. But, at its height, it had reported receiving telephone death threats against its leaders.

The government gave houses to people whose villages were flooded by the construction of the Picachos dam, which started in 2006.

Sinaloa’s governor, Mario López Valdez, said the killing would not go unpunished. The state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said the killers used a 9-mm pistol, and that the station offices did not have security cameras that could have recorded the killing.

Attacks on radio stations are rare in Mexico, though print journalists and photographers have frequently been the victims of attacks and killings.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 75 journalists and media workers have been killed since 1992; the vast majority reporters or editors for print media.