Mexico: Another murder of a journalist

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It brings to 11 the number killed there so far this year


MIAMI, Florida (September 16, 2016)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed outrage at the murder of Aurelio Campos, editor of the weekly newspaper El Gráfico de la Sierra in Mexico, the 11th in the country so far this year, and called for an official in-depth investigation to learn the motive and identify those responsible.


Campos, 52, was attacked on Wednesday evening (September 14) as he was driving home in the city of Huauchinango, Puebla state. His newspaper, founded by him earlier this year, covers police news and it was not immediately known if he had received death threats.


He was intercepted on the highway by men traveling in a truck who shot at him several times. In his vehicle he was carrying copies of his newspaper for distribution the following day. Campos died from his wounds early the next day.


IAPA President Pierre Manigault was outraged at the murder and expressed his sympathy to Campos' family and colleagues. Violence and impunity in Mexico will be one of the main issues for discussion during the IAPA's General Assembly to be held in Mexico City October 13-17.


Manigault, president of the Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper The Post and Courier, declared that while so far the motive for the murder was not known "it is imperative that the Mexican authorities comply with their duty to investigate speedily and punish those responsible."


"To show results in the investigation is the most effective way of combating impunity, it is moreover an obligation of the government to give a response to the murdered journalist's family," the IAPA president added.


For its part the Mexican National Human Rights Commission asked the Puebla state government to apply precautionary measures for the journalist's family. According to that commission with the murder of Campos the number of members of the press killed in Mexico since 2000 had risen to 118. The others killed so far this year are: Pedro Tamayo Rosas (Veracruz, July 20), Salvador Olmos García (Oaxaca, June 26), Zamira Esther Bautista (Tamaulipas, June 20), Elidio Ramos Zárate (Oaxaca, June 19), Manuel Torres (Veracruz, May 14), Francisco Pacheco Beltrán (Guerrero, April 25), Moisés Dagdug Lutzow (Tabasco, February 20), Anabel Flores Salazar (Veracruz, February 8), Reinel Martínez Cerqueda (Oaxaca, January 22) and Marcos Hernández Bautista (Oaxaca, January 21).


The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.

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