Thirteen police officers in the Mexican city of Medellín de Bravo in the state of Veracruz were detained on Thursday as part of the investigation into the kidnapping of the journalist Moisés Sánchez Cerezo.
Sánchez Cerezo, the director and editor of the small, local publication La Unión, was abducted last Friday, January 2 by unidentified assailants, who also took his cell phone, camera and work computer with all of his archives. Earlier this week, the full police squad of 38 officers was brought in for questioning.
Sánchez Cerezo, who supported La Unión through money he earned as a taxi driver, had received a number of threats in the past over his publication, including some allegedly from Medellín de Bravo Mayor Omar Cruz, although Cruz denies the allegations. Currently, DNA tests are being carried out on two bodies that were found after Sánchez Cerezo’s disappearance.
Mexico has gained a reputation for being the most violent place in the hemisphere for journalists, in large part due to drug trafficking and organized crime. Over 100 journalists have been murdered since the year 2000, and within Mexico, the state of Veracruz is considered to be the most dangerous state for journalists.
Yesterday, a group of journalists protested the abduction of Sánchez Cerezo at the state congress in Xalapa. In addition to protests against the government for Sánchez Cerezo’s kidnapping, the Peña Nieto administration is facing ongoing protests over the disappearance of 43 students in September of last year.
