Three journalists killed in Mexico

The United Nations has expressed concern over the deaths of three journalists in Veracruz, Mexico.  The journalists were killed on Press Freedom Day.

 Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said:

“News of the murders of Gabriel Huge and Guillermo Luna Varela – tortured and killed less than one week after the assassination of Regina Martínez Pérez – is deeply disturbing, and reflects an alarming state of affairs in the state of Veracruz,” the Director-General said in a statement from Tunis, where she is attending an international conference to mark World Press Freedom Day, celebrated annually on 3 May.

“That these gruesome crimes have been committed on the eve of World Press Freedom Day – a day on which we honour the vital role played by journalists in upholding democratic values, protecting citizens’ rights to be informed and calling those in power to account – makes the situation all the more intolerable.

“I condemn these three murders in the strongest possible terms and urge the Mexican authorities to act quickly and decisively to find those responsible. Impunity is not an option."

The journalists' bodies had been dismembered and found in three plastic bags; they were discarded near a canal bank in Boca del Rio. They have been named as Gabriel Huge Cordova and Guillermo Luna Varela, both of them worked as photographers. The body of retired photographer Esteban Rodriguez was also found, and the body of his companion, named as Irasema Becerra, was also discovered.

This brings the total of journalists killed in 2012 to 18, according to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Journalists around the world are often targeted while doing their work and there have been many similar cases reported from Mexico. However, figures from CPJ show that Syria is the deadliest country in 2012 with five journalists killed so far this year. Somalia is the second deadliest with five journalists killed this year.