Mexico: Journalist found dead, another goes missing

Enrique Villicana Palomares, a teacher and a columnist for the daily newspaper “La Voz de Michoacán“, was found dead on 10 April in Morelia, in the southern state of Michoacán, five days after he was kidnapped. The Michoacán state justice department was being notified two weeks ago that threats had been made against him. His death came in the same week that another Michoacán journalist, Ramón Ángeles Zalpa of the newspaper “Cambio” was reported missing.

Journalists abducted in Mexico

On March 4, a reporter and camera operator for Milenio Televisión were kidnapped in Reynosa, Tamaulipas state (northeastern Mexico) while covering a wave of violence caused by a dispute between two of the regions rival drug trafficking groups. The journalists were later released with a warning, “Don’t come here to heat things up.”

Ciro Gómez Leyva, Assistant Editorial Director for the Milenio Group, who sent the crew to Reynosa, wrote in a column: “Every day in more regions in Mexico it is impossible to do reporting. Journalism is dead in Reynosa, etcetera. I have nothing else to say.”

“In the past 14 days, at least eight Mexican journalists have been abducted in Reynosa”,  Alfredo Corchado reports. “One died after a severe beating, according to reports that could not be independently verified. Two were released by their captors. The rest are missing.”

Mexican reporter found dead after kidnap

Valentín Valdés Espinosa, journalist of the newspaper Zócalo de Saltillo, was found dead On 8 January in the city of Saltillo, northern México.

Valdés Espinosa had been kidnapped the day before with a colleague, after they left the newspapers offices. According to the magazine Proceso, the second reporter was later released.

Valdés had been tortured and shot several times, Coahuila’s attorney general’s office said. The reporter was found with a message that read: “This is going to happen to those who don’t understand. The message is for everyone.”

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