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| Four Mexican journalists murdered in last week | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Two press photographers have been found dead in a canal in the Mexican port city of Veracruz alongside a former cameraman and a fourth body, less than a week after another journalist based in the city was killed in her home. | Two press photographers have been found dead in a canal in the Mexican port city of Veracruz alongside a former cameraman and a fourth body, less than a week after another journalist based in the city was killed in her home. |
| The state attorney general's office issued an initial statement identifying photographers Guillermo Luna and Gabriel Huge as among the victims. Both were reportedly working for a local website called Veracruz News and had been missing since the day before. | The state attorney general's office issued an initial statement identifying photographers Guillermo Luna and Gabriel Huge as among the victims. Both were reportedly working for a local website called Veracruz News and had been missing since the day before. |
| State authorities later said Esteban RodrÃguez, a former cameraman, was also among the dead as well as a woman named as Irasema Becerra, said to be Luna's girlfriend. | State authorities later said Esteban RodrÃguez, a former cameraman, was also among the dead as well as a woman named as Irasema Becerra, said to be Luna's girlfriend. |
| It followed the discovery of Regina Martinez, the Veracruz correspondent of the weekly national news magazine Proceso strangled to death in her home last weekend. | |
| The latest murders underline Veracruz's current status as the most extreme focal point for attacks against journalists which have become commonplace in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the drug cartels in December 2006 and extreme violence exploded across the country. | The latest murders underline Veracruz's current status as the most extreme focal point for attacks against journalists which have become commonplace in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the drug cartels in December 2006 and extreme violence exploded across the country. |
| Of the nine Mexican journalists killed last year probably because of their work, four were from Veracruz. | Of the nine Mexican journalists killed last year probably because of their work, four were from Veracruz. |
| Ricardo Gonzalez, of the press freedom activist group Article 19, said journalists in Veracruz are being targeted because of their position "as witnesses to the decomposition of the state." | Ricardo Gonzalez, of the press freedom activist group Article 19, said journalists in Veracruz are being targeted because of their position "as witnesses to the decomposition of the state." |
| The attacks intensified following the change of state governor 18 months ago that, observers say, destabilised a previous division of the territory between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels. Their subsequent power struggle has been further complicated by the Sinaloa cartel's attempts to increase their influence in the state which is both a key smuggling route for illegal drugs, as well as fertile territory for kidnappings and extortion rackets. | The attacks intensified following the change of state governor 18 months ago that, observers say, destabilised a previous division of the territory between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels. Their subsequent power struggle has been further complicated by the Sinaloa cartel's attempts to increase their influence in the state which is both a key smuggling route for illegal drugs, as well as fertile territory for kidnappings and extortion rackets. |
| A local paper called Notiver, which has a reputation for being more critical than most, has been hit particularly hard. Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, a key figure at the publication, was shot dead alongside his wife and one of his children in June 2011. A political reporter from the same paper called Yolanda Ordaz, was found dead and dismembered a month later. | A local paper called Notiver, which has a reputation for being more critical than most, has been hit particularly hard. Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, a key figure at the publication, was shot dead alongside his wife and one of his children in June 2011. A political reporter from the same paper called Yolanda Ordaz, was found dead and dismembered a month later. |
| The two photographers tortured and killed this week were reportedly among a group of journalists who left the paper in fear around that time. After a period lying low they started working again as freelancers. | The two photographers tortured and killed this week were reportedly among a group of journalists who left the paper in fear around that time. After a period lying low they started working again as freelancers. |
| Gonzalez, of Article 19, said there have been "absolutely no advances" in the investigation of any of the murders of journalists in Veracruz. Rather, he said, the state authorities have tended to hint that the killings were motivated by personal troubles, or filed them away as the work of the cartels ignoring the fact that corruption means it is often difficult to define where the authorities stop and organised crime begins. | Gonzalez, of Article 19, said there have been "absolutely no advances" in the investigation of any of the murders of journalists in Veracruz. Rather, he said, the state authorities have tended to hint that the killings were motivated by personal troubles, or filed them away as the work of the cartels ignoring the fact that corruption means it is often difficult to define where the authorities stop and organised crime begins. |