Friday, January 9, 2015

Entire Police Force Held Over Kidnapping of Journalist

Posted: 09 Jan 2015 01:08 AM PST

Reposted from an article on Vice News with additional material by Otis B Fly-Wheel

Police force held for questioning over kidnapping of Journalist Moises Sanchez Cerezo

Moises Sanchez Cerezo

All the Police Officers of a City in Mexico have been taken in for questioning over the disappearance of yet another Journalist in the Gulf Coast State of Veracruz, considered the most dangerous place in the country for Reporters.

According to the State Governor , the Police of Medellin de Bravo , more than three dozen officers - were held on Monday after unidentified armed men kidnapped Journalist Moises Sanchez Cerezo, known as critical of the local and State Govenrment, from his home on Friday. Nine assailants travelling in three vehicles raided Sanchez's home, taking him , along with a computer , camera , and cell phone.

Sanchez had worked as a part-time Journalist and Photo-Journalist, funding his small weekly publication La Union with wages he earned as a Taxi Driver. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Sanchez sometimes operated as a source for other local Journalists in Veracruz.

The Reporter had receiced multiple death threats over the last year from the Mayor of Medellin de Bravo, Omar Cruz , and other unidentified men, and recently had some of his equipment stolen, according to the Inter-American Press Association.

Cruz has denied the allegations

Mexico's Special Prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression has registered 102 murdered Journalists from January 2000 to June 2014. It is unclear how many of these cases have remained unsolved or unpunished

Governor Javier Duarte , initially attempted to minimize Sanchez's Journalistic work, pointing out he was also a Taxi Driver and " a neighbourhood activist ".

The Medellin de Bravo Police were transferred to the State Capital of Xalapa on Tuesday to submit declarations to investigators. Veracruz's State Police took over security in the city.

Claudio Paolillo, IAPA Chairman , said that Sanchez disappearance is a poor sign for journalist freedom in Mexico. " We are concerned that the year has begun with indications that acts of violence against Journalists are going to continue.

"Moises Sanchez Cerezo had denounced a series of criminal acts in the City of Medellin de Bravo and its surroundings, making him an uncomfortable Journalist for the Mayor of said Municipality", Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said in a statement released Sunday.

The CPJ's 2014 Global Impunity Index ranked Mexico seventh among countries where Journalists murders are likely to remain unsolved. Mexico ranked first in the Western Hemisphere , reflecting data covering 2013.

The number of Journalist killings in Mexico vary because of different methods to identify such cases, but Mexico's Special Prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression has registered 102 cases of murdered Journalists from January 2000 to June 2014. It is unclear how many of these cases have remain unsolved or unpunished.

The year started with other violent attacks against reporters, although it was not immediately clear if the incidents were linked to the Journalists work.

A local Television Reporter , Jesus Tapia , was discovered stabbed to death on Monday at his home in the state of Coahuila, he is the second Journalist to be confirmed murdered in Mexico this year , after the bodies of former Televisa reporter Jazmin Martinez and her husband were found on Friday in the State of Nayarit.

The couple were abducted by a gang of kidnappers who phoned family members to demand a ransom , but battered the couple to death with a stone , before negotiations over the price of exchange could take place. Two people were arrested in conjunction with the kidnapping.

Press-rights group Article 19 in 2012 called Veracruz the most dangerous State in Mexico to practice journalism. Ten have been murdered since Duarte took office in 2010.

Regina Martinez Perez

Proceso Correspondent Regina Martinez was found strangled to death in her home, she had been badly beaten about the face and ribs , leading to demonstrations against her killing in Mexico City and elsewhere.

Regina Martinez Perez

The week before her murder she covered the arrest of an allegedly high ranking Zeta , the arrests of nine police charged with collusion with narco-trafficking organisations, and a story of the local Mayor who was arrested with other alleged cartel gun men after a shoot out with the Mexican Army.

Octavio Rojas Hernandez

In August 2014, a reporter for a Veracruz newspaper , Octavio Rojas Hernandez , was shot dead in front of his home in Cosolapa, in the neighouring State of Oxaca, after reporting on a Police Chief's ties to organised crime.

A young man approached his door in the late afternoon asking if a car parked out front was for sale. According to a statement from the Oaxaca Attorney Generals Office , the man fired four bullets after Rojas stepped outside to discuss the vehicle, hitting him twice in the head and once in the chest and shoulder. The killer immediately fled , and Rojas was pronounced dead at the scene. His family since his death have a protection order placed with them.

Rojas had recently been working as a reported for El Buen Tono , a Cordoban newspaper in Veracruz State, which has been the site of a violent war between the Zetas and its former patron El Cartel del Gulfo. His last article published two days before his murder was an expose of fuel theft by cartels

republished from Vice News

Gregorio " Goyo " Jimenez de la Cruz

Last February, freelance Journalist Gregorio " Goyo " Jimenez de la Cruz was murdered after hit men were allegedly paid the insignificant sum of 20,000 pesos roughly 1500 dollars to execute him. At the time , the State Governor brushed off his murder as a " crime of passion " linked to one of his daughters. ( Otis B Fly-Wheel comment : I have heard of people being murdered in Mexico for a lot less money than this ).

Funeral of Gregorio " Goyo " Jimenez de la Cruz

Two daughters of Jimenez testified that Teresa Hernandez, a neighbour , had threatened their father after the reporter published a story about two people that were stabbed outside of her bar, saying that she knew people from the Zetas that would kill him.

Jimenez body was found in a fosa ( shallow grave ) together with the bodies of Ernesto Ruiz Guillen , a local Union Leader , and an unidentified Taxi Driver, Jimenez had written several articles on the stance of the Union Leader against organised crime.

Original article on Vice News

Extra images supplied courtesy of Google Images.