Toluca (Mexico) (AFP)

The dead body of a journalist with multiple stab wounds was discovered Saturday in Tejupilco Municipality, central Mexico, authorities said.

Nevith Condes Jaramillo, 42, was director of the Observatorio del Sur information portal in Tejupilco, Mexico. He dealt on this portal the daily news of the municipality and also intervened on a local radio.

The body of the journalist "was found this Saturday morning" and "he presented wounds by cutting object", announced in a statement the public prosecutor's office of the State of Mexico, which opened an investigation.

Journalists from the local press reported that their colleague was murdered with several stab wounds.

His body was in a mountainous area in the south of the state. Tejupilco is a particularly violent municipality because of the presence of criminal groups.

The National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) demanded in a statement that the person responsible for the death of the journalist be arrested and punished.

"Violence against journalists, in all its forms, is one of the main obstacles to our country becoming stronger as a democracy," said the CNDH.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the exercise of journalism. About a hundred journalists have been killed since 2000. The vast majority of murders have gone unpunished.

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) office in Mexico told AFP that, according to relatives of the journalist found dead, he had received threats in November 2018 and last June.

For this reason, "he had sought protective measures" from a Mexican government agency that must ensure the safety of information professionals, said RSF.

However, Nevith Condes Jaramillo had finally refused the proposed security measures because of the bureaucratic process that was required to obtain them, according to the association.

Prior to the announcement of his death, RSF had recorded nine murders of journalists in Mexico since the beginning of 2019.

© 2019 AFP