Journalist kidnapped in Sinaloa state was tortured and shot

Radio journalist José Luis Romero’s body was found on 16 January alongside the road from Los Mochis to El Fuerte, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, just over two weeks after gunmen grabbed him while he was out shopping in Los Mochis on 30 December and bundled him into a pickup. Sinaloa state judicial officials said Romero, 40, journalist of Línea Directa, was tortured and then shot in the head. He may have been murdered the same day as his abduction as they said he had been dead for about two weeks when the body was found. He worked for Línea Directa radio. The state officials said his death bore all the hallmarks of an organised crime killing and that the case would be transferred to Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR). The day before the body’s discovery, an anonymous message told the authorities to look in a different location, known as Plan del Río, and named various gang members as his killers. The discovery of Romero’s body brings the number of journalists murdered in Mexico since 2000 to 60 and the number murdered since the start of the year to two (see 8 January release). A total of nine journalists are still missing in abductions that have taken place since 2003. Mexico was ranked 137th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. _____________ 04.01.10 - Crime reporter kidnapped in Sinaloa, investigating police chief murdered hours later The news of the abduction of 40-year-old radio journalist José Luis Romero in the northwestern state of Sinaloa has caused shock and anger in a region notorious for being the preserve of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the country’s leading criminal and drug-trafficking syndicates. A crime reporter for the Línea Directa radio station, Romero was out shopping in the city of Los Mochis on 30 December when he was grabbed by gunmen and bundled into a pickup. Jesús Escalante, the head of the police force investigating the abduction was himself murdered a few hours later. “The situation for journalists in Mexico is really dramatic and the 2009 toll is disastrous,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Romero’s kidnapping, which comes less than two months after the abduction of María Esther Aguilar Cansimbe, brings to 10 the total of journalists who have disappeared in this fashion since 2003.” The press freedom organisation added: “The violence is even paralysing the work of the authorities responsible for security and justice, as shown by the murder of the police chief in charge of the investigation. The need is a greater than ever for the federal authorities to intervene in order to confront this escalating terror, and when they do, they should work closely with journalists’ organisations and human rights groups.” As highlighted in the 2009 annual roundup published by Reporters Without Borders on 30 December, drug-trafficking is one of the leading threats to journalists in the western hemisphere. Thirteen journalists were killed in Mexico in 2009 and it has been established beyond any doubt in three of these cases that the victims were targeted because of their work. Journalists have been abducted in this part of Mexico before. Alfredo Jiménez Mota, the editor of the Hermosillo-based El Imparcial daily, went missing in neighbouring Sonora on 2 April 2005. It is still not known what happened to Jiménez and Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly denounced the lack of any progress in the investigation.