The disappeared in Mexico

Monica Campbell and Maria Salazar publish a special report for the Committee to Protect Journalists on the dangers facing journalists working in Mexico. 21 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 and seven reporters have vanished in the past three years. The report suggests the disappearances are either a new tactic by organised crime groups or, more likely, there is “a new type of perpetrator is at work”,

Relatives and colleagues of several victims said in interviews with CPJ that they believe local public officials played a role in the disappearances. In at least five of these cases, CPJ found, the missing reporters had investigated links between local government officials and organized crime in the weeks before they vanished. They include reporter Alfredo Jiménez Mota, who broke major stories about the web of corruption among drug runners, police, local prosecutors, and state officials in the northern city of Hermosillo. link