Mexican photojournalist Edgar Daniel Esqueda Castro was found dead on Oct. 6 in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico, a day after being kidnapped by men who allegedly identified themselves as police officers.
His body was found near Ponciano Arriaga International Airport with signs of torture and execution, according to El Universal.
The State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) of San Luis Potosí confirmed the photojournalist's death after his body was identified by his relatives, the newspaper added..
"Friend, today we lost you, they took your life in such a cowardly way, you saved so many brave, I know that you rest in peace," Metropoli San Luis, one of the media outlets where he worked, said in announcing the discovery of his body on Oct. 6. “We are with his family, with his 1-year-old daughter Daniela. YOU DON’T KILL THE TRUTH BY KILLING JOURNALISTS.”
The outlet posted a video of journalists from various media outlets observing a moment of silence for Esqueda Castro outside of the Governmental Palace. They held signs saying “Ni Uno Más” (Not one more) and “Sigo yo?” (Am I next?).
According to Esqueda Castro's relatives, on the morning of the 5th, armed men who identified themselves as agents of the Ministerial Police invaded the home of the photojournalist and his family and took him, reported Subrayado.
On the same day, the PGJE published a statement from the San Luis Potosí State Ministerial Police on its Twitter profile saying that it had not carried out any police action against the photojournalist.
Esqueda Castro covered police and society for the local media Metropoli San Luis and Vox Populi. Both outlets reported that the photojournalist had already been threatened in his work by ministerial police officers, who even said they would kidnap him.
Due to the threats, the photojournalist had filed a complaint with the State Commission on Human Rights and the Committee to Protect Journalists of the State of San Luis Potosí, Metropoli reported.
Prior to the discovery of the journalist’s body, State Governor Juan Manuel Carreras said his government was working on the case in conjunction with the San Luis Potosí Attorney General's Office, according to Vox Populi. The Attorney General's Office and the National Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists had also been activated, the newspaper said.
According to CPJ, this year alone at least four journalists were murdered in Mexico in retaliation for their work, and the Committee is investigating the circumstances of a fifth journalist murder in the country.
Organizations differ in their counts of journalists killed due to different criteria. Some media outlets have reported at least 11 journalists killed in Mexico this year.
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.
