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A journalist narrowly escaped death in an incident in Veracruz, Mexico. Edgar López took photographs of a local mayor admonishing a police officer arrested for being drunk on duty. The mayor was angered by the presence of journalists and seized a camera from Enrique García. Later, when López left the station he was followed and stopped by eight officers. He was beaten and one of the officers fired a shot, which missed. The officers then fled the scene.
Two Mexican journalists have been separately murdered in the North of Mexico. The killings bore the signs of gang violence and bring the number of journalists murdered in Mexico this year to 11. Radio journalist Marco Martínez Tijerina was found in the North Eastern state of Nuevo León. His body had one gunshot to the head and bore signs of torture. On July 10, Guillermo Trejo, an employee of the State Commission for Human Rights in North West Mexico, was killed outside the offices of a newspaper he had previously worked for. Police found over forty bullet casings at the scene.
The body of a local newspaper editor was found last week (7 July), he had been shot dead in a rural area of Michoacán state. Hugo Olivera Cartera also worked with news agency ADN and the newspaper La Voz de Michoacán. He was known for his crime coverage. His offices at El Día de Michoacán were raided and computer equipment was stolen shortly before the discovery of his body. In February Olivera filed a complaint with the National Commission of Human Rights, he claimed he had been beaten by federal police officers.
Gerardo Jarquin Diaz, mayor of the small town of San Pedro Totolapan and member of the PRI (The Institutional Revolutionary Party), was arrested for killing one supporter of the rival political group PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) and injuring another. The shooting took place after the two men made fun of the PRI’s performance in a recent election. The election results mark the first time that the southern state Oaxaca has been ruled by a non PRI governor in 80 years.