Assailants
in an SUV pursued and intercepted a newspaper delivery truck bearing the logo
of the daily El Imparcial
del Istmo along
a rural stretch of highway connecting the cities of Salina Cruz and Tehuantepec
in southern Mexico,
according to local news accounts. The attackers shot Mateo Cortés Martínez, the driver,
and delivery workers Vásquez and Agustín López Nolasco
at close range, El Imparcial
del Istmo
reported.
Luis
David Quintana, El Imparcial
del Istmo’s
deputy director, told local reporters that the newspaper had received several
threatening e-mail messages and letters in the previous month, warning the
paper to tone down coverage of local drug trafficking. Numerous staff members
resigned a day after the murders, Quintana told CPJ.