Rodolfo Rincón Taracena

New York, March 3, 2010—Investigators in Tabasco State should continue to investigate the 2007 disappearance of Mexican journalist Rodolfo Rincón Taracena despite the recently publicized alleged confessions of five suspects in custody.

In Mexico, seven reporters have vanished in three years. Many had investigated links between public officials and drug traffickers. Are the crime groups changing tactics, or is a new type of perpetrator at work? 

New York, September 25, 2008--Mexican radio host Alejandro Zenón Fonseca Estrada was gunned down Tuesday as he was putting up anticrime posters in Villahermosa, capital of the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between Fonseca's work as a journalist and his killing.

Four unidentified men riding in a van pulled alongside Fonseca, host of a morning talk show on EXA FM, as he was hanging the posters on a major street around 9 p.m. Tuesday, witnesses told local police and reporters. One of the posters read, "No to Kidnappings," while another declared support for Tabasco's governor, Andrés Granier Melo. Witnesses said the assailants berated Fonseca for the posters and then shot him at close range. Fonseca was taken to a local hospital, where he died from chest wounds early Wednesday, according to press reports. The assailants were said to be armed with AR-15 rifles.

Mexican authorities failed again to vigorously pursue the perpetrators of violence against journalists, leaving reporters vulnerable to attacks and the news media resorting to self-censorship. Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for the press, CPJ research shows, with 13 journalists slain in direct relation to their work and another 14 killed under unclear circumstances in the last 15 years. Three journalists and three media workers were murdered in 2007, and three reporters went missing.

New York, April 17, 2007—A Mexican crime reporter who was abducted on Monday by armed men in Agua Prieta, a city on the Arizona border, is missing. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the incident was related to his journalistic work.

Saúl Noé Martínez Ortega, 36, who covers crime for the newspaper Interdiario in Agua Prieta, was driving a black SUV around midnight when another vehicle started a high-speed chase, according to local press reports.

New York, January 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of Mexican reporter Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, who has been missing in the southern Tabasco state since Saturday night. CPJ is investigating whether Rincón’s disappearance is linked to his professional work.

Rincón, an investigative crime reporter for the Villahermosa-based daily Tabasco Hoy, was last seen leaving the newsroom around 7 p.m., a colleague who asked not to be identified told CPJ. Rincón left his personal belongings and camera at his desk and told his editor that he would be back shortly, the source said. No one has heard from Rincón since.