Mexican news photographer found dead day after wife alleges he was abducted by police at gunpoint

The body of a Mexican news photographer was found on Friday, a day after he was abducted from his home.

Edgar Daniel Esqueda Castro freelanced for local newspapers in the northern state of San Luis Potosí, occasionally working on crime stories,.

Esqueda Castro’s wife told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that armed men in police uniforms stormed their house on Thursday night and took him away at gunpoint.

His body was found near San Luis Potosí airport the next morning with three bullet wounds.

Esqueda Castro’s death follows a month after reporter Juan Carlos Hernandez Rios was gunned down outside his home in the city of Guanajuato.

Figures for the number of journalists murdered in Mexico so far this year vary. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put the figure at 11 last month, while the CPJ has it at four, with another 14 journalists having disappeared.

Esqueda had been threatened by police in recent months over his work, and was beaten by officers on 4 July, according to the CPJ.

The state’s general prosecutor denied yesterday that police were involved in the abduction and that an investigation into his death was underway.

RSF’s World Press Freedom Index ranks Mexico 147 out of 180 countries. Bottom is North Korea, top is Norway. The UK is at 40.

They said: “When journalists cover subjects linked to organized crime or political corruption (especially at the local level), they immediately become targets and are often executed in cold blood.

“Most of these crimes go unpunished, with Mexico’s pervasive corruption accounting for the impunity.”

Picture: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Topics in this article : Mexico