Thursday, May 3, 2012

Dismembered bodies of 2 journalists found in Mexico

mexican-journalists-story-top Two of four dismembered bodies found Thursday morning in the eastern state of Veracruz and bearing signs of torture have been identified as journalists, Mexican authorities said.

The bodies were identified as Guillermo Luna Varela and Gabriel Huge, who had been reported missing Wednesday, said Sandra Garcia, a spokeswoman for the state government.

The other two bodies had yet to be identified, she said.

Four bags containing the bodies were found in a canal; the victims appeared to have been tortured, the state's attorney general said, according to CNN Mexico.

"By the characteristics of the crime, one presumes that organized crime was involved in the commission of these homicides," the attorney general's office said in a statement.

Luna Varela worked as a photographer for veracruznews.com.mx, and Huge "dedicated himself to private activities," it said.

Their relatives said they had been missing since Wednesday, the statement said.

The bodies were found by naval police in the Zamorana Canal in the city of Boca del Rio, where two abandoned trucks were found last November containing 35 bodies.

The discovery of the photographers' bodies occurred on World Press Freedom Day and four days after Regina Martinez, a reporter for the weekly Proceso magazine, was found strangled in her house in Xalapa, Veracruz.

Since 2000, a total of 76 journalists have been killed in Mexico -- not counting Martinez or the two photographers -- according to data from the National Human Rights Commission.

CNN

 
Auto News Users