Mexican reporter Richard Villa was kidnapped this Monday afternoon by a group of armed men in the southeastern state of Veracruz, local authorities reported.
The communicator from the Presente Veracruz newspaper was kidnapped in the municipality of Poza Rica, in the north of the state, where he reported events related to insecurity.
The media outlet itself reported that the events occurred at 5:40 p.m. (23:40 GMT) when the reporter was in a mechanical workshop where he brought his motorcycle to a standstill.
"Hooded subjects with long weapons “picked up” our police reporter Richard Villa when he was in a workshop, fixing his motorcycle"exposed the medium.
The State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP), an autonomous body, reported that in coordination with the State Public Security Secretariat (SSP) and the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) it carried out a search operation and location of the reporter.
In a press release, he indicated that communication was established with the police and investigative authorities to locate the communicator.
In addition, it revealed that a protection protocol is also implemented in favor of a media outlet in said city and its members, in coordination with the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
Veracruz is considered by non-governmental organizations as one of the most dangerous regions in Mexico and the world to practice journalism.
According to statistics from the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists, an organization that defends communicators, 31 journalists were murdered from 2005 to 2022 in Veracruz.
In 2022, Mexico signed up as the "country at peace" most dangerous for the press, concentrating 20% of the murders of journalists, with 13 cases, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
According to the organization Article 19, a total of 157 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000 in possible connection with their work. Of these, 37 have occurred during the current term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office on December 1, 2018.
In mid-February, the journalist and environmental activist Abisaí Pérez Romero, whose lifeless body was found in the municipality of Tula, Hidalgo state, central Mexico, was noted as the first case of an informant murdered in Mexico in 2023.
Article 19 lamented and condemned the disappearance and subsequent murder of Pérez Romero, journalist, defender of land and territory, and student.
