»Two of three abducted journalists were released after an online hostage video was posted«
Authorities announced Thursday that two journalists abducted in a drug cartel stronghold in southern Mexico have been released, but the whereabouts of a third are unknown. The Guerrero state prosecutor’s office reported that security forces located Jesus Pintor Alegre and Fernando Moreno Villegas in good health more than two weeks after their disappearance.
According to a statement, a rescue mission including the military and National Guard is likely to have prompted the captors to release the men.
Alan Garcia Aguilar, an employee of the same news website, also went missing on December 27 in a zone controlled by the Familia Michoacana drug cartel, according to the report.
Moreno and Garcia looked hand and foot-chained in a video uploaded to social media by unknown users days earlier.
Los 3 reporteros fueron reportados como desaparecidos desde el 27 de diciembre. Hoy, dos de ellos fueron exhibidos encadenados de pies y manos, y obligados a dar un mensaje #TierraCaliente https://t.co/kHt7fGXu1U
— SDP News (@sdpnews) on January 10, 2023
Moreno remarked that the reporters were “paying the consequences” for their coverage of the turbulent southern region.
Mexico is regarded as one of the most dangerous countries in which to work as a journalist.
According to Reporters Without Borders, more than 150 journalists have been murdered in the North American country since the year 2000.
Last month, one of the nation’s most well-known television news anchors stated that he had allegedly escaped an assassination attempt in Mexico City.
Two individuals on a motorcycle fired at Ciro Gomez Leyva while he was moving in his armored vehicle, but he was unharmed.
Police Chief Omar Garcia Harfuch stated that eleven individuals had been apprehended in connection with the attack on the journalist’s vehicle.
Officials stated that the obscure group responsible for the crime was involved in murder, extortion of merchants, and drug selling on the city’s dangerous east side. Authorities did not explain why they suspected a small-time gang attempted to murder one of the most recognized journalists in Mexico.
Gómez Leyva escaped unscathed although startled, thanks to the bulletproofing of his SUV.
During the raids and searches that led to the arrests, police discovered a cap with the initials CJNG, which stand for the hyper-violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel. However, Garcia Harfuch stated that this does not necessarily indicate that the cartel was involved.
“It is very frequent in Mexico City for criminal gangs to use names — Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Cartel — just to communicate a link with them, without meaning they are part” he explained. As with prior arrests and searches, cartel initials have been discovered.
A top lieutenant of the Jalisco cartel threatened another journalist earlier in 2022, which was the bloodiest year for Mexican journalists and media workers in at least three decades, with 15 murders. According to Reporters Without Borders, at least ten journalists were killed because to their work.
Growing public outcry in Mexico over the targeting and murder of journalists 04:43
This report was supplied by the Associated Press.
»Two of three abducted journalists were released after an online hostage video was posted«