Unknown assailants beat a Mexican political journalist on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the city of Mexicali, located in northeastern Mexico along the Californian border, reported the Program for Freedom of Expression (Libex).
Assailants pursued journalist Antonio Heras Sánchez for six blocks until they succeeded in blocking the journalist's path, reported the newspaper La Jornada. The assailants then forced him out of his car and beat him unconscious.
“They beat me in the face, head, abdomen, back, hips, and ribs until I was knocked unconscious," said Heras Sánchez, who is director of the news channels EnLíneaBC and Lindero Norte, a correspondent for the newspaper La Jornada, and a columnist for the newspaper El Mexicano.
Before the attack, Heras Sánchez attended a press conference held by the former governor of Baja California, Eugenio Elorduy. Opposition party (PRI) leaders are demanding that Elorduy be investigated for his alleged ties to drug cartels, reported Libex.
The National Human Rights Commission said it would keep a close watch on the State Justice Department's investigation of the attack, reported the newspaper El Mexicano.
On Sunday, Feb. 26, another Mexican reporter was assaulted while covering a dispute between two groups of taxi drivers in the small city of Juchitán de Zaragoza located in southeastern México, reported the website Oaxaca Ya. Alberto Reyna, reporter for the newspaper El Sol del Istmo and for Channel 10 television, was attacked by taxi drivers from the Movement of Authentic Zapotec Indians (MAIZ), reported the website Página 3.
