MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (BDCi) — Two Mexican journalists were kidnapped and slain, their naked bodies were discovered Thursday in a field behind a cemetery, authorities said.
The threat to Journalists has become more apparent in Mexico since a growing number in the profession continue to be killed. Prior to this violent crime, six other journalists have been killed in Mexico this year.
However this is the first time new media employees have been slain in safe harbor of Mexico City .
Both journalists found dead were women and believed to have been in their 40’s. The women were identified by authorities as Ana Marcela Yarce Viveros, a veteran reporter who helped found the scrappy news magazine Contralinea and who more recently took charge of its public relations department, and Rocio Gonzalez Trapaga, a former reporter for Mexico’s dominant TV broadcaster, Televisa.
The bodies of the women were found in a working class area of Mexico City. Police said both of their hands and feet were tied together. The city’s justice department confirmed both women showed signs of being strangled.
It is not certain whether the killings were directly related to their work but based on how they were treated; it seems much too familiar with the pattern of violence ordered by drug gangs.
“This violence is reaching all Mexicans… including journalists, “Miguel Badillo, editor of Contralinea, said in a radio interview. “A terrible crime.”
More than 60 have been murdered since the government declared war against the drug cartels which began in 2006, according to human rights organizations.
The committee to protect journalists places Mexico as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for reporters making them an easy target for drug gangs.
Many Mexican journalists have “self-censored,” choosing to refrain from reporting on the activities of the cartels in their cities to avoid problems.
By: Shayla Selva
Edited by: Janete Weinstein
Source: La Times
September 3, 2011
10:20 a.m. (PDT)