Roberto Marcos García

Gunmen stormed the offices of the Nuevo Laredo daily El Mañana in February, firing assault rifles, tossing a grenade—and setting the tone for another dangerous year for Mexican journalists. The shocking assault, which seriously injured reporter Jaime Orozco, spurred the federal government to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate crimes against the press. The 2006 blotter was long: U.S. documentary filmmaker Bradley Will was murdered during civil unrest in the southern state of Oaxaca in October; Veracruz crime reporter Roberto Marcos García was slain in November; and Monclova journalist Rafael Ortiz Martínez went missing in July after exposing widespread problems related to prostitution. CPJ is investigating five other journalist murders to determine whether they were work-related.

New York, December 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists said today it was investigating whether the shooting death of Adolfo Sánchez Guzmán was related to his work as reporter for the Mexican news Web site Orizaba en Vivo.

The journalist’s body was found yesterday on the banks of the Blanco river near Mendoza, 74 miles (120 kilometers) from Xalapa, capital of the southeastern state of Veracruz. He had been shot twice in the back of the head, and had bruises and stab wounds to the chest, a police source in Mendoza told CPJ. Nearby lay the body of another man, César Martínez López, who had also been shot in the head, the source said.

New York, November 22, 2006—Roberto Marcos García, a reporter for the Veracruz-based publication Testimonio and local correspondent for the Mexico City weekly Alarma, was found murdered yesterday in southern Mexico. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between García’s murder and his journalism.

García, who was traveling from Veracruz to the nearby city of Alvarado on his motorcycle, was run down by a car with Mexico City plates at 1 p.m. near the town of La Matoza, the Mexican press reported. Unidentified assailants shot García, while he was on the ground, twice on the head and at least four times in the chest, according to press reports and a CPJ source.