| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Gunmen Kidnap, Kill Mexican Reporter After Work
 Robin Emmott - Reuters
go to original
January 09, 2010
| | Since 2006, at least 24 journalists have been killed in Mexico, making it one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, according to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists. | |
Monterrey, Mexico - Suspected drug hitmen kidnapped a Mexican journalist after he left work, shot him and and left a threatening message on his body in an upsurge of attacks on the media, his newspaper said on Friday.
Gunmen forced Valentin Valdes out of his car as he left the daily Zocalo in the industrial city of Saltillo in Coahuila state near the U.S. border on Thursday night.
Hours later, police found his body dumped outside a motel in Saltillo, where an American anti-kidnapping expert was abducted in December 2008.
Officials at the Coahuila state attorney general's office said Valdes, who wrote about local city issues, was likely targeted by drug gangs.
Gunmen left a scrawled message on Valdes' chest, Zocalo said on its website. Authorities declined to give more details but Mexican media said it was a threat against Coahuila state prosecutor Jesus Torres, who launched an anti-crime crackdown in December.
Suspected hitmen killed another journalist in the Mexican resort town of Tulum just before Christmas and abducted a journalist in Sinaloa state, home to the country's most powerful cartel, on Dec. 30.
Saltillo and the nearby cities of Monterrey, Reynosa and Matamoros are controlled by the Gulf cartel and its armed wing, the Zetas, which run drugs through the area into Texas and use the manufacturing cities to launder drug profits.
Across Mexico, a fight between rival cartels for control of the multibillion dollar drug trade in Mexico and the United States has killed 17,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched his anti-drug campaign at the end of 2006.
Investors and officials in Washington are increasingly concerned that the escalating violence is overwhelming Mexico's 49,000 troops sent by Calderon to fight the cartels.
Attacks on the media have mounted as drug gangs seek to silence journalists who report on the drug killings.
Since 2006, at least 24 journalists have been killed in Mexico, making it one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, according to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
"Valdes' murder follows a pattern of unprecedented violence against the media in Mexico," said Carlos Lauria, the committee's senior coordinator for the Americas.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us