Missing Mexican reporter found dead: newspaper

MEXICO CITY, July 9: A regional correspondent for leading Mexican newspaper La Jornada was found dead on Saturday, a day after he went missing in the western state of Nayarit, the daily said.

"A body found in the village of Huachines... in the municipality of Tepic was identified as Luis Martin Sanchez Iniguez, 59 years old, a correspondent for La Jornada," the Mexico City newspaper said on its website.

The journalist's wife, Cecilia Lopez, told investigators that she had been unaware of his whereabouts since Wednesday night when she was in another town visiting relatives, the newspaper reported, citing local authorities.

Sanchez Iniguez's body was found on Saturday morning in a rural area near Tepic, the capital of Nayarit. Some unconfirmed local media reports said he was found wrapped in plastic bags and had a message on his chest.

Sanchez was at home Wednesday night and spoke to his wife on the phone. Lopez also reportedly told investigators that she found the clothes her husband was wearing the last day she saw him in their home, and in his wallet were all his belongings except for his La Jornada correspondent's card.

The family also reported that "his computer, cell phone, a hard drive and his sandals are missing," the newspaper added.

La Jornada correspondents have been targeted and murdered in the past, including Miroslava Breach, killed in Chihuahua in March 2017, and Javier Valdez, who was also a contributor to AFP, murdered in Sinaloa in May of the same year.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been murdered in the country, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

According to the government, in 2022 there were 13 murders of reporters. Most crimes against journalists remain unpunished.

(RSS/AFP)