Just as Mexican journalists were preparing to protest the murder of a colleague last week, news broke on Monday that two more journalists had been murdered in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, bringing the total number of journalist murders in the country this year to 11.

The Veracruz State Prosecutor's Office said through Twitter that it was investigating the murders of Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Sheila Johana Garcia Olivera, the director and a reporter of the online news site El Veraz in Cosoleacaque, respectively.

Veracruz State Prosecutor Veronica Hernandez Giadans stated that the inquiry would be extensive, including considering their journalistic activity as a potential motive for their murder.

According to the State Commission for Attention to and Protection of Journalists, the two ladies were assaulted outside a convenience store.

"We condemn this attack on journalism in Veracruz and have launched an investigation," the commission stated.

Their murders followed the eighth journalist murder in Sinaloa this year. Prosecutors said Thursday that the body of Luis Enrique Ramirez Ramos was discovered on a dirt road near a junkyard in Culiacan, the state capital.

Prosecutors claimed that his body was covered in black plastic and that he died from repeated hits to the head.

Ramirez Ramos' news website, "Fuentes Fidedignas," or "Reliable Sources," said he was kidnapped near his home hours before.

The dizzying rate of murders has made Mexico the most dangerous country outside of conflict zones for journalists to work in this year.

Monday evening, Griselda Triana, the widow of killed journalist Javier Valdez, addressed over 200 journalists gathered at Mexico City's Angel of Independence monument. The original intention of the protest was to oppose the murders of Ramirez Ramos and his predecessors.

Valdez was an award-winning reporter who specialized in investigating drug trafficking and organized crime in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Triana stated, "I've never stopped considering how simple it is to murder a journalist in Mexico." "I feel pain each time they murder so many coworkers."

Triana stated, "There is so much anger, indignation, and powerlessness knowing that we are here to protest the murder of Luis Enrique Ramirez, which occurred a few days ago in Culiacan, Sinaloa, and the news of the murder of two women journalists in Veracruz reaches us here." "This is a whirlpool. Every day, new crimes against free speech are committed. This behavior should not be tolerated. We have the authority to request that the authorities cease this massacre of journalists."

As was the case on Monday, most of the victims are from small, hyperlocal news sites. El Veraz's Facebook page looked to primarily include event announcements and government-related material virtually. The motto of El Veraz was "Journalism with Humanity."

According to the message, the number indicated for El Veraz rang what looked to be Mollinedo Falconi's cell phone.

Cosoleacaque is adjacent to a crucial east-west road in southeast Veracruz. Organized crime is widespread in the area and is mainly involved in migrant smuggling, but there was no obvious indication of who could have been responsible.

Cuitlahuac Garcia, governor of Veracruz, stated that a hunt was begun for those responsible.

"We will find the perpetrators of this crime, there will be justice, and there will be no impunity," Garcia declared.

Journalists had already planned a protest on Monday in Mexico City to denounce the recent murder of Ramirez Ramos in Sinaloa.

Mexico's provincial and federal governments have been accused of failing to prevent the killings and investigate them adequately.

While organized crime is frequently engaged in journalist murders, small-town officials or politicians with criminal or political objectives are also typical suspects. Small-time journalists in the interior of Mexico are easy targets.

Mexico has a protection scheme for journalists and human rights defenders, but it was unclear whether Mollinedo Falconi or Garcia Olivera were enrolled.

In some circumstances, participants are provided with bodyguards. Frequently, authorities advise concerned journalists to relocate to a different state or the capital to decrease the threat, even though doing so would separate them from their work, livelihood, and families.

While President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to implement a "zero impunity" campaign to probe journalist murders, most homicides in Mexico remain unsolved. Additionally, Lopez Obrador has maintained his frequent rhetorical attacks against journalists criticizing his administration.

In February, the Inter-American Press Association demanded that the president "immediately suspend the aggressions and insults, as such attacks from the top of the power structure encourage violence against the press."

In March, the European Union passed a resolution that "calls on the authorities, particularly the highest ones, to refrain from issuing any communication that could stigmatize human rights defenders, journalists, and media workers, exacerbate the atmosphere against them, or distort their lines of investigation."