Mexican Journalist Lourdes Maldonado 'Murder Suspects' Apprehended in Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Confirms

Mexico has caught the alleged murder suspects involved in the killing of Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado, according to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador said in a news conference that they are working on the matter and that "they are not forgotten," with his team presenting photographs and maps showing the movements of the alleged suspects, according to a Reuters report.

The head of the Security and Citizen Protection law enforcement agency, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, confirmed the arrest of the three people linked to the crime.

Lopez Obrador and his security team did not give further details on the suspects' identity or motive.

The Mexican president said the arrests were the result of a joint investigation that included the federal government, as well as the Baja California state investigators.

Mexico's sub secretary of public safety, Ricardo Mejia, said that the group reportedly took a taxi to Maldonado's neighborhood and waited for three years for the Mexican journalist to arrive home.

Mejia described the suspects as "presumed material co-author." However, he did not elaborate on the details of the murder, according to a Los Angeles Times news report.

Other agencies involved in the arrests were the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Security, the Navy, the National Anti-Kidnapping Coordination agency, as well as the National Intelligence Center.

Baja California Atty. Gen. Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said in a local news conference that investigators may still be looking for other people.

Carpio said that the involvement of more people is not being ruled out.

Lopez Obrador said that they are obliged to ensure that justice is served in the country and that impunity is not allowed.

Killings of Mexican Journalists in Mexico

In February, the fourth Mexican journalist killed in Mexico was reported, with a news outlet in Mexico's Michoacan state saying that one of its employees, Roberto Toledo, was killed in the country in less than a month.

Armando Linares, director of Monitor Michoacan, commented on Toledo's killing. He said that exposing corrupt administrations, officials, and politicians has led to the death of one of their colleagues.

Linares said that Toledo worked as a videographer for the news outlet for two years. He added that Toledo had been preparing to record a regular video column at the law offices of the website's deputy director when he was shot.

Linares said that the news outlet had been reporting various sensitive stories, including three indigenous communities working towards self-government.

Photographer Margarito Martinez and Maldonado were killed within a week of each other in the border city of Tijuana.

Maldonado had been part of the $23 million a year federal program to protect journalists and right defenders since last December.

Meanwhile, Martinez had been in the process of applying to the same program when he was killed.

Reporter Jose Luis Gamboa was also killed in the coastal state of Veracruz in an attack on January 10. He was not known to be enrolled in the same program.

Activists noted that nine Mexican journalists were killed last year, with more than 50 having been killed since Lopez Obrador took office, according to The Guardian report.

Lopez Obrador has called for a "fairer and more humanitarian society." However, he said that he had inherited a "profound social, economic, and moral crisis."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Mexican authorities have arrested three in connection with murder Tijuana journalist. - from KPBS Public Media