Disappearance of teen Mexican reporter being probed
September 24th, 2011 - 5:55 pm ICT by IANSVeracruz (Mexico), Sep 24 (IANS/EFE) Authorities in the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz said they were investigating the case of a 17-year-old journalist who went missing last weekend.
Manuel Fonseca Hernández, who worked for El Mananero, a daily based in the southeastern city of Acayucan, left his home Saturday to cover a crime story and has not been seen or heard from since, his family members said.
His father, Juan Fonseca Aguirre, reported the disappearance to the authorities after the missing teenager’s family and friends had conducted a fruitless search.
According to the father’s report, the young reporter “had a habit of leaving home for two or three days, but he always came back”, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.
The office’s top prosecutor for the southern region of Veracruz, Clemente Nagasaky Condado Escamilla, issued an order enlisting the state investigation agency’s cooperation in the search for the fledgling journalist.
The youngster went missing in an area of Veracruz traversed by thousands of illegal immigrants, many of whom are extorted or abducted by criminal gangs while en route to the US-Mexico border.
Mexico, where more than 80 journalists have been slain since 2000, according to Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for members of the media.
–IANS/EFE
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Tags: condado, crime story, criminal gangs, dangerous countries, efe, el mananero, escamilla, fruitless search, illegal immigrants, investigation agency, leaving home, manuel fonseca, media watchdog, nagasaky, reporters without borders, southeastern city, state attorney general, state investigation, us mexico border, young reporter