Mexico: Another journalist murdered in Veracruz; 5 killed under Governor Javier Duarte

The correspondent of the weekly magazine Proceso , Regina Martinez, was killed on 28 April at her home in  Xalapa in the state of Veracruz. The killing of Martinez is the fifth in the 17 months since Javier Duarte assumed the governorship. According to early reports, a neighbor told the authorities that the journalist's house had been open for several hours without any movement.

Agents of the Secretary of Public Security arrived at Regina's house and inside they found the body with clear marks of suffocation and strangulation. In late December 2011, her house was burgled. Regina  had been a reporter for Proceso  for over a decade and previously worked as a correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada. 

During the past 18 months under the administration of Governor Javier Duarte, five journalists have been killed, including Noel Lopez Olguin (Noticias Acayucan ), Miguel Ángel López, Misael López Solana and Yolanda López Solana (Notiver). All cases remain unsolved, creating a situation of complete impunity. 

In addition,, 13 journalists were forcibly displaced in 2011 due to threats they were facing. Shortly before the end of the year, a newspaper in the city of Cordoba, El Buen Tono, was attacked by an armed group who set fire to the premises.

ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns the murder of Regina Martínez and the pattern of violence and impunity that exists in the state of Veracruz, where authorities have consistently failed to fulfill their international obligations to guarantee the free exercise of freedom of expression.

Because of this, ARTICLE 19 calls once again on the federal government and authorities of the state of Veracruz to investigate the facts diligently   and not to dismiss, as has happened in other cases, the work of Martinez as a reporter. 

We also request that security measures are offered to the families and colleagues of Regina Martinez, with whom we express our deepest condolences.