The owner of a newspaper in the Mexican city of Juarez announced Sunday it had published its last issue due to the risk of violence against its journalists.

Oscar Cantú Murguía wrote in a goodbye letter to readers that his newspaper Norte was shutting down following the killing of one of its contributors. Journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea, 54, was shot at eight times on the morning of March 23 outside her home in Chihuahua, reported La Jornada. She had worked for La Jornada for more than 20 years, covering topics including politics and crime.



Her death had caused Cantú Murguía to reflect on Norte's 27 years as well as his four decades in the press, he said. The risk of speaking critically has become too high, he said, and he was not willing to pay with the life of another colleague or his own.

"The deadly assaults, as well as the impunity against journalists, has remained in evidence, preventing us from freely continuing our work," he wrote.