July-December 2010 caselist - PEN International

1 March 2010. His family has reported the disappearance to the stateprosecutor’s office. Domínguez’ disappearance coincided with the deathin disputed circumstances of Reynosa-based journalist Jorge RábagoValdez (see above) and the alleged abduction of seven other journalistsin the area. Two broadcast journalists from the Milenio media groupassigned to cover a wave of drug-related violence in Reynosa wereabducted by gunmen on 3 March and released the next day after beingtold to leave the area. As of 11 March there were unconfirmed reportsthat at least four other journalists had been abducted: they have not beennamed but work, respectively, for the newspapers El Mañana, La Tardeand La Prensa and the news website MetroNoticias. MetroNoticias hasreportedly stated that its reporter is safe but would not provide furtherdetails or make the reporter available for comment. No further news as of31 December 2010. [RAN 27/10]Mauricio ESTRADA ZAMORA: reporter for newspapers La Opiniónde Apatzingán and La Opinión de Michoacán, based in Michoacán state,southern México, was reported missing on 14 February 2008. On thatday, La Opinión de Michoacán stated that the reporter had last been seenon 12 February, when he left the newspaper’s premises for home, andthat he had not answered calls to his mobile phone. According to thenewspaper, on the morning of 13 February the journalist’s vehicle wasfound by a local public safety official, parked with its doors open and theengine running. Estrada’s laptop and camera, along with the car’s stereo,were missing. Investigation: La Opinión de Michoacán requested theintervention of the Michoacán state Attorney General’s Office, whichreportedly sent its anti-kidnapping team to the region in order to searchfor the reporter. The newspaper believed that Estrada’s disappearancemay have been linked to a problem he had in January 2008 with a FederalInvestigations Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) agent inthe area. The investigation was being conducted by the local office ofthe federal attorney general that stated that it could not identify the AFIagent, or make any connection between Estrada’s disappearance and afederal agent. They dismissed any links to a criminal group. In December2008, it was reported that the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalistswas of the opinion that Estrada’s disappearance has only tenuouslinks to his work as a journalist. As of January 2009, the authorities hadreportedly not made public any results of the investigation. Update: On16 July 2010, the state authorities stated that they were still investigatingEstrada’s disappearance. As of 19 November 2010, little progress hadreportedly been made in the investigation. Background: Another journalistfor La Opinión de Michoacán, Gerardo Israel García Pimentel,was murdered in December 2007 (see above).José Antonio GARCIA APAC: editor of the newspaper Ecos de la Costa,from Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán state, was last seen on 20 November2006. That evening he was on his way from Tepalcatepec to Morelia,when he was reportedly intercepted by three people in a pick-up truck,who took him with them. His car was not found. According to his family,García had reported being followed earlier that year. He was coveringcases related to drug trafficking in Michoacán at the time. He was alsowidely known to have compiled a list of allegedly corrupt officials beforehe disappeared. Investigation: On 20 November 2007, Garcia’s wife,Rosa Isela Caballero, reported that she had sent a letter to the GeneralProsecutor’s Office in July 2007 enquiring about the results of the investigationinto her husband’s disappearance, but had not yet received aclear response. According to Caballero, three representatives of the prosecutor’soffice had been called to the investigation, and the federal justiceministry had also intervened, but without any results. As of December2008, Caballero was continuing to publish Ecos de la Cuenca in memoryof her husband. On 20 November 2009, it was reported that the investigationhad stalled. According to a report by Article 19 and CENCOS,the Michoacán Prosecutor General’s Office launched an investigationinto García’s disappearance in December 2006. In April 2007, the casewas transferred to the federal authorities, under the jurisdiction of theNational Attorney General’s Office (PGR). Three months later, the PGRdecided that there was insufficient evidence to investigate the disappearanceand closed the case. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office subsequentlyre-launched an investigation on 24 January 2008 and then againon 13 March 2008, but eventually also closed the case due to a lack ofleads. In November 2009, García’s family appealed to the authorities totake up the investigation again. Update: As of 20 November 2010, fouryears after his disappearance, García was still missing and there was nonews about his whereabouts. As Michoacán state criminal code reportedlydoes not recognise “disappearance” as a crime, the disappearanceis being investigated as “illegal privation of freedom”. As a result of thelegal vagueness, the case keeps being passed between the various localand federal departments involved and the investigation is virtually at astandstill.Evaristo ORTEGA ZÁRATE: editor of the local weekly newspaperEspacio in Colipa, Veracruz state, has reportedly been missing since20 April 2010. According to Ortega’s sister, she received several SMSmessages from him that day saying that he had been arrested by policein the state capital of Xalapa. She called him and he asked her to informthe authorities and media before they got cut off. Nothing has beenheard from him since. Ortega, who reportedly intended to run for mayorof Colipa as a candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), was lastseen in a PAN branch office 10 minutes before he sent the first of theSMS messages to his sister. Another PAN member who wanted to bethe party’s mayoral candidate in Colipa, Francisco Mota Uribe, reportedlydisappeared around the same time. The local police have reportedlydenied any involvement in Ortega’s disappearance. According to theVeracruz Commission for the Defence of Journalists, the state attorneygeneral’s office took more than 24 hours to open an investigation intohis disappearance even though the local authorities were notified immediately.The head of the State Commission for Human Rights has reportedlyruled out any possibility that Ortega’s disappearance is linked to hiswork as a journalist. Update: According to the Special Prosecutor forCrimes against Freedom of Expression, the investigation into Ortega’sdisappearance was ongoing as of 15 July 2010, led by the Veracruz stateattorney general, with the collaboration of the federal attorney general.No progress had been reported. No further news as of 31 December2010. [RAN 34/10]Rafael ORTIZ MARTÍNEZ: reporter for the daily newspaper Zócalo,based in Monclova, Coahuila state, and presenter for a local radio station,was last seen leaving Zócalo’s offices in the early hours of 8 July 2006.Ortiz (32) had reportedly been editing material for a radio show. When aZócalo company car came to pick him up a few hours later, he was nothome and no one has seen him since. Ortiz had recently written aboutthe prevalence of prostitution in Monclova and the resulting spread ofHIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. He had also covered drugtrafficking and had reportedly received death threats in the past becauseof his reporting. Ortiz’ father reported the disappearance to the Coahuilastate prosecutor, which began an investigation focusing on Ortiz’ journalism.On 24 July 2006, it was reported that the Coahuila state governorand judicial authorities had said that Ortiz had probably been kidnapped33