Kidnapped Mexican journalist found dead

Kidnapped Mexican journalist found dead

2011-08-26 16:47:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

CULIACÁN, MÉXICO (BNO NEWS) -- The body of abducted Mexican journalist Humberto Millán Salazar was found on Thursday in a field in the northern state of Sinaloa with a gunshot wound to the head, police said on Friday.

Millán was editor of the online newspaper "A discusión" and news presenter of a local radio show on national media, Radio Fórmula. He was abducted in the state capital of Culiacán on Wednesday morning by gunmen in pick-up trucks who intercepted him on his way to work.

"Mexican authorities must conduct a full investigation into the murder of Humberto Millán Salazar and bring those responsible to justice," said Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The lethal trend of impunity for crimes against journalists must end."

Local journalists told CPJ they doubt the Sinaloa cartel was responsible for the murder because Millán focused on local politics, not crime or drugs. A colleague at the radio station, Berzahi Osuna Enciso, said that Millán's killers would be found among his political enemies.

The killing of Millán comes less than a month after Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, a crime reporter and columnist for the regional daily Notiver in the east-coast port city of Veracruz, was found with her throat slit after being abducted 48 hours earlier.

According to the CPJ, six journalists have been killed in the country since the start of 2011, which makes Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for members of the press.

More than 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderón began his campaign to fight organized crime in December 2006, according to official figures.

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