Mexico - Local magazine editor's bullet-riddled body found in Sinaloa state

The bullet-riddled and half-buried body of local magazine editor Antonio Gamboa Urias was found yesterday in Ahome, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, 13 days after he was reported missing.

Sinaloa prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said Gamboa was murdered after being abducted as he left a bar because of an argument that had taken place in the bar. Six people took part in the murder of Gamboa, whose body was found thanks to information provided by two detained suspects, Higuera said.

The account provided by the prosecutor seems to rule out any connection between Gamboa’s work and the murder.

Gamboa had for the past several years been the editor of the Ahome-based Nueva Prensa, a magazine that covers local corruption and crime. He had also participated actively in protests by Sinaloa journalists against a proposed “Ley Mordaza” (gag law) that would have restricted crime coverage in the state. Sinaloa’s parliament rejected it on 21 August.

The FEADLE (federal prosecutor’s office for crimes against freedom of expression) has tried to contact the Sinaloa state prosecutor about the case but he did not respond to their enquiries and did not receive the FEADLE officials who were sent to conduct an investigation.

As a result, the FEADLE has not been given access to any of the information in the state prosecutor’s case file and has not been able to interrogate the detained suspects.

“We welcome the progress in this case and the arrest of suspects, but we urge the state authorities to take account of the victim’s work as a journalist, and to not obstruct the investigation being conducted by the federal prosecutor’s office for crimes against freedom of expression,” Reporters Without Borders deputy programme director Virginie Dangles said.

Gamboa is the seventh media worker to be murdered in Mexico since the start of the year, one in which Reporters Without Borders has been shocked by the kinds of violence inflicted on journalists, including one physically attacked in his own office, another shot dead in mid-radio broadcast, shots fired at the homes of at least two journalists and one woman netizen brutally murdered.

Mexico is ranked 152nd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.