MIAMI, Florida (May 19, 2017)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed concern at the kidnapping last night of journalist Salvador Adame Pardo in Michoacán, Mexico, and called on the authorities to investigate speedily so as to ensure his physical safety.
Adame Pardo, founder and editor-in-chief of the news website Canal 6 Media TV in the city of Francisco J. Múgica in Michoacán state, was abducted yesterday (May 18) at around 7:00 p.m., according to local media. His family filed a report with the local authorities.
The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, of the Mexican portal La Silla Rota, declared "At a time when the Mexican press community is in mourning over the unpunished violence unleashed against journalists we take a stand to demand to the authorities that they be speedy in investigating the Adame Pardo case, with the aim of ensuring his life."
The journalist, whose whereabouts remain unknown, was at a water purification plant when unidentified persons hijacked him and forced him to get into a black pickup truck. He had received threats on several occasions and been warned to stop his journalistic work, people close to him reported.
He is known for his criticisms of the local mayor and according to various media some years ago he stopped covering matters of violence due to pressures from drug traffickers in that part of the country, where there is the presence of several organized crime groups.
His disappearance comes just a few days after the murder on May 15 of Javier Valdez, correspondent of La Jornada and co-founder of the weekly Ríodoce in Culiacán, Sinaloa, a crime that sparked throughout Mexico protests against the government and violence and calls for justice and effective protection of members of the press.
Also on May 15 was murdered Jonathan Rodríguez, a reporter with the weekly El Costeño in Autlán, Jalisco. In this attack in addition seriously wounded was Sonia Córdova, Jonathan's mother and the editor of the newspaper, which had in previous days received threats.
In addition to the murders of Valdez and Rodríguez this week earlier this year killed were Max Rodríguez, a journalist with Colectivo Pericú, of Baja California Sur, on April 14; Miroslava Breach Velducea, correspondent of La Jornada and stringer of Norte and El Diario de Chihuahua, in Chihuahua, on March 23; Ricardo Monluí Cabrera, editor of the newspapers El Político de Xalapa and El Político de Córdoba and the website www.elpolitico.com.mx in Veracruz, on March 19, and Cecilio Pineda Birto, stringer of the newspapers La Voz de Tierra Caliente and El Universal, among other media in Altamirano, Guerrero, on March 2.
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 publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida.
