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 Travel Writers' Resources | April 2007 
Gunmen Nab Crime Reporter
 Dane Schiller - San Antonio Express-News
A Mexican newspaper reporter on the Arizona border remains missing after he was snatched by armed men who chased him to a police station.
Saúl Martínez Ortega, 36, apparently drove to the Agua Prieta police station to seek help during the high-speed chase early Monday.
When he arrived, the only officer around was a night watchman who didn't have a radio or a weapon.
The gunmen used a weapon to smash the window of Martínez's sport utility vehicle so they could open the door and take him away.
"We do not know anything," his mother, Olga Martínez, said in a shaky voice Wednesday. "In cases like this, people usually do not return."
The Martínez family owns the Interdiario newspaper, and Martínez covers crime stories.
In the days leading up to the kidnapping, Martínez reportedly was investigating the disappearance of a friend who was a police informant.
"We are looking along the line of whether this had something to do with his work," said José Larrinaga Talamantes, a spokesman for state police investigators in the Sonora state capital of Hermosillo.
Larrinaga said the only witness to the crime is the guard, who is cooperating in the probe.
Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists said the group is calling on authorities to act quickly and find the reporter.
"It is too early to say," Lauria said of whether the kidnapping was related to Martínez's work. "We have asked the authorities to conduct a very thorough investigation, locate Martínez and bring him back."
Adding to the mystery are items reportedly found in Martínez's vehicle, including 28 unspent bullets for a 9 mm pistol and 230 grams of a chemical that could be used to dilute cocaine.
The name of that chemical and its potential legitimate uses were not immediately clear. Lauria said the family told committee investigators that he purchased it as a rodent or insect poison.
Family members told the Express-News they were unaware Martínez owned a gun and declined to comment on anything found in his SUV.
They said they believe he was targeted because of his work as a reporter and hold out hope he will be found alive.
"It hurts and we are worried, but we are doing all we can," said brother Edgar Martínez, who spent part of Wednesday meeting with police and prosecutors. "For whatever happens, we are prepared."
"Covering crime in Mexico has become very complicated work," Lauria said. "People who actually investigate corruption and organized crime are paying a high price."
There are also still many questions about the death of Amado Ramírez, a Televisa television network reporter who was shot in the back this month in Acapulco.
Ramírez, who was shot in his car, staggered to the entrance of a nearby hotel before collapsing.
In the wake of his death, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to Mexican President Felipe Calderón asking the government to take immediate action against a "pattern of deadly attacks."
"We are deeply concerned about the state of press freedom in Mexico, and call for swift and decisive federal action to stop this tide of violence," the letter states.
dschiller@express-news.net |
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