Three alleged members of the feared Sinaloa Cartel were arrested on August 4 for their suspected involvement in the abduction of four journalists last month in the northwestern state of Durango, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) .
Multimedios Laguna cameraman Javier Canales Fernández, Televisa cameraman Alejandro Hernández Pacheco, Televisa reporter Héctor Gordoa Márquez and El Vespertino reporter Oscar Solis Gurrola were kidnapped on July 26, a few hours after covering a demonstration against the dismissal of a prison governor.
The arrests come at a time of constant violence in Mexico. Journalists are planning to stage peaceful marches at midday tomorrow in Mexico City and various other states such as Chihuahua, Chiapas, Nuevo León and Sonora. These states have been badly hit by the mayhem resulting from the federal offensive against drug trafficking, in which more 30,000 have been killed since December 2006. The journalists are calling for guarantees for their safety and effective measures to combat impunity and reduce the particularly high level of murders and disappearances of journalists.
RSF hailed the progress in the investigation into the Durango abductions but there is still no news about Ulises González García, the editor of the regional weekly La Opinión, who was abducted from his home in Jérez, in the state of Zacatecas, on July 29. Mexico is ranked 137th out of 175 countries in the RSF press freedom index.
