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Previous Action Alerts 02/09/07 - Mexico
February 08, 2007
Mexico: Disappearance of Journalist Rodolfo Rincón Taracena
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is deeply concerned by the disappearance of Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, who has not been seen since 20 January 2007. Nine journalists have been killed, and two others disappeared in Mexico in the past year, a pattern that makes Rodolfo Rincón Taracena’s disappearance especially worrying. It urges the Mexican authorities to undertake an exhaustive investigation into the matter find the journalist’s whereabouts and to take urgent measures to address this appalling pattern of violence
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Rodolfo Rincón Taracena (50), journalist for the daily Tabasco Hoy, located in Villahermosa, state of Tabasco, Southeast Mexico, was last heard of on the morning of the 20 January 2007. He telephoned his wife from his office to let her know that he would be home late in the afternoon, but never arrived. Rodolfo Rincón Taracena had recently published articles on drug trafficking, and he had identified sites where drugs were being sold, alleged apparently naming some dealers. On the day of Rincón’s disappearance he was completing an article on a gang of bank robbers.
According to the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), the Executive Director of Tabasco Hoy has claimed that his newspaper received threats from a gang, which calls itself as Las Zetas, who are described as military trained contract killers. To see the IAPA press release, please clink http://www.ifex.org/20fr/layout/set/print/content/view/full/80803/
The journalist’s family reported the disappearance to the authorities on 23 January 2007, and an investigation was launched by the Tabasco Delegate to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists (Fiscalía Especial para la Atención de Delitos Cometidos contra Periodistas) a post established by the Mexican government in February 2006.
Rodolfo Rincón Taracena’s disappearance comes at a time when the numbers of killings of journalists in Mexico has risen alarmingly with nine print and broadcast journalists killed in the past year Two others have disappeared. For more information, please visit http://www.sipiapa.com/default.cfm
Please send appeals to the Mexican authorities:
- Welcoming that an investigation has been initiated into the disappearance of Rodolfo Rincón Taracena and urging that all be done to find his whereabouts;
- Expressing alarm at the large numbers of journalists killed and disappeared in Mexico in the past year;
- Urging that all measures be taken to those responsible to justice and by so doing halt this alarming pattern of killings and violence against the press
Appeals to:
General Prosecutor
Eduardo Medina Mora
Procurador General de la República
Av. Paseo de Reforma No. 211-213
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Defegacion Cuauhtémoc
México D.F. C.P. 06500
Teléfono + 52 55 5346 0108
Fax: + 52 55 53 46 0908
David Vega Vera
Fiscal Especial
Fiscalía para la Atención de los Delitos Contra Periodistas
E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
If possible, please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in your own country. You may follow this link http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/embajadas/dirembajadas.htm