Valentín Valdés Espinosa

New York, May 18, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón to put Mexico’s press freedom crisis on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting in Washington. CPJ also calls on Calderón to continue to advocate for reforms that will strengthen federal accountability in crimes against freedom of expression. 

On Thursday, I wrote about the murder of reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa on January 7 and how the Mexican media has silenced its own coverage of the killing. Today, I will get into how journalists and drug cartels have entered into a dangerous, symbiotic relationship.

Twenty-nine-year-old reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa was picked up by gunmen in two SUVs from the streets of downtown Saltillo, Mexico, late at night on January 7. He was tortured, bound by his hands and feet, and dumped at the Motel Marbella, where they shot him dead, according to state investigators, who discovered him early Friday. Another reporter abducted with him was beaten and released.

No reporter in the city has published a story that touches on why their colleague was killed. In fact, Valdés’ newspaper, Zócalo de Saltillo, is going in the other direction. It will stop reporting on anything about organized crime, according to a senior editor who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety. The paper, he said, is not going to investigate the murder of its reporter.

New York, January 8, 2010—Mexican reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa was abducted on Thursday and found shot to death early this morning in the city of Saltillo, Coahuila state, in northern Mexico, according to local news reports. Mexican authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into this vicious attack and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Valdés, at left, who covered local news including crimefor the daily Zócalo de Saltillo, finished work at the paper around 11 p.m. and left the office with two colleagues, according to Editor-in-Chief Sergio Cisneros. While they were in a car in downtown Saltillo, a group of men in two SUVs intercepted them. Valdés and a reporter whose name has not been released were forced into one of the SUVs and driven away, Cisneros said.

We issued the following statement today in response to the killing of Mexican reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa of the Saltillo-based daily Zócalo in the state of Coahuila. Espinosa was abducted by unidentified assailants Thursday and found dead early today, according to press reports...