Rubén Pat Cahuich, the director of the Playa News Aqui y Ahora online news site, was shot dead on a street in Playa del Carmen, in the state of Quintana Roo, on July 24, 2018. Last year, Pat Cahuich had reportedly been beaten, jailed and threatened for his work by the local police in Playa del Carmen. He was enrolled in a government protection programme for journalists. Pat Cauich was the second Playa News journalist killed within a month. His colleague José Guadalupe Chan Dzib was killed in June 2018.