Mexico - Media Safety

One of four abducted journalists released in Mexico

Source : AFP 29.07.2010

MEXICO CITY, July 29, 2010 (AFP) - One of four journalists abducted in northern Mexico while covering a protest at a prison in a drug scandal was released unharmed on Thursday, a coworker at Televisa news station told AFP.

Hector Gordoa disappeared on Monday while covering the protest at the prison in Durango state, where the director was accused of allowing inmates out to commit murders for a suspected drug gang.

"He has been freed, they've made contact with him. He's fine and he's traveling to Mexico City," a coworker from Televisa told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Two cameramen, one from an affiliate of Televisa, another from the local Multimedios Laguna, and a reporter from local El Vespertino newspaper remained in captivity late Thursday, Gordoa said, according to the source.

The kidnappers had demanded that the news organizations air three videos in which informants alleged ties between the Zetas drug gang and corrupt officials.

Milenio Television complied, airing the videos on its Torreon affiliate.

Battles between the Zetas and the Sinaloa gang are blamed for a wave of violence in the northern states of Durango and Coahuila.

The prison protest broke out Monday after the director and three others were detained over accusations of releasing inmates to commit massacres.

Authorities blame some 25,000 murders since 2006 on spiraling drug-related violence, amid a military crackdown on drug gangs.

At least nine journalists have been killed in Mexico so far this year, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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