MEXICAN authorities have been urged to investigate and bring to justice the killers of a left-wing journalist whose body was found in a ditch hours after the inauguration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded action after Alejandro Marquez Jimenez was found dead near the airport in Tepic, the capital of Nayarit state.

Mr Marquez, who was the editor at biweekly magazine Orion Informativo, was active in Amlo’s Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), with fears he may have been targeted for his political activities and journalism.

Mexico City newspaper Excelsior said that he was last seen alive on the afternoon of November 30, when he received a phone call while eating with his family, after which he left his home. According to reports, his body was found with four bullet wounds with signs that he had been beaten.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with 10 being killed in 2018, according to CPJ research. It found that at least four had been murdered as in reprisal attacks for their work.

CPJ spokesman Jan-Albert Hootsen said: “Mexican authorities must immediately do everything in their power to properly investigate whether the killing of Alejandro Marquez was in any way related to his work as a journalist.

“Deadly violence against reporters in Mexico will continue as long as attackers are allowed to act in impunity.”

Federal Prosecutor Ricardo Sanchez Perez del Pozo confirmed that his offices had opened an investigation into the murder.