By Alejandro Martínez
Mexican journalist Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, a reporter who covers the crime beat in the dangerous southeastern state of Veracruz, was kidnapped on Feb. 5 near his home by a group of armed men, news magazine Proceso reported.
Jiménez de la Cruz, 42, works as a correspondent for newspapers Notisur and Liberal del Sur and had been reporting on a series of kidnappings in the town of Villa Allende, near the southern municipality of Coatzacoalcos. He and his family had received threats in the days before the incident.
Yesterday morning Jiménez was returning home after dropping his children at school when around 7:15 a.m. a group of armed men in a gray pickup truck without license plates intercepted him, according to press freedom organization Article 19.
The kidnapping led to a joint search operation coordinated by state and federal authorities, including Veracruz's Public Safety Department, the Mexican Army and the Marines. Veracruz's prosecutor's office, the state's Human Rights State Commission and the National Human Rights Commission opened separate investigations.
After the incident, the journalist's family was relocated to one of the Army's safety houses, newspaper El Universal reported.
Several journalists marched down the streets of Coatzacoalcos to denounce the aggression and spread photos of Jiménez de la Cruz through social media with captions that read "we want him alive."
International journalism organizations also called on authorities to find the journalist.
"Because of violence and corruption, fear and censorship have taken a staggering toll on the press in Veracruz," said Carlos Lauría, the Committee to Protect Journalists' senior program coordinator for the Americas. "We urge Mexican authorities to do everything in their power to locate Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz and bring him back to safety."
In recent years, the presence of the Zetas drug cartel and other organized crime groups have turned Veracruz into one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the American continent. Nine journalists were killed there in the last two years, at least three are missing and several have left the state because of death threats.
In 2013 Article 19 registered 38 aggressions against journalists in Veracruz, including eight kidnappings.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
