The International Press Institute (IPI) called on Mexican federal authorities to ensure the safe return of a Mexican journalist kidnapped Wednesday morning.
Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, a crime reporter for the newspapers NotiSUR and Liberal del Sur was seized by a group of armed assailants after dropping his children off at school in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state.
According to NotiSUR, the Mexican army and navy have joined federal and state police in the search for Jiménez.
“The Mexican federal government must exhaust all possible resources to bring Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz back safely to his family,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi said today. “His abduction constitutes yet another blow to Veracruz’s embattled journalist community, which is under siege from a combination of organised crime, small-time authoritarianism, and a culture of impunity fuelled by negligent state officials.”
Authorities have not yet indicated a possible motive for the kidnapping. News reports, quoting colleagues of Jiménez, indicated that the journalist had recently been covering kidnappings and so-called levantones (forced disappearances) in the port city.
According to IPI’s Death Watch, 58 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006 for reasons likely or possibly related to their profession. A staggering one-sixth of those killings (11 in total) occurred in Veracruz — statistically one of the world’s most dangerous places for the media.
Proceso magazine reported that at least four other journalists have disappeared in Veracruz since 2011.
In a February 2013 meeting with IPI in Mexico City, representatives of the Veracruz government insisted that they took press freedom seriously, but also claimed that journalist safety was not in danger in the state.
Trionfi noted: “We urge Veracruz authorities to demonstrate that seriousness now, by finding those responsible for this kidnapping and bringing them to justice.”
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If you have any questions or would like more information about this statement, please contact IPI Press Freedom Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean Scott F. Griffen at +43 (1) 512 9011 or email sgriffen[at]freemedia.at.
