Reporter Eliseo Barrón Laguna was found dead Tuesday (May 26) after being kidnapped the night before in Durango State (northern Mexico), Milenio reports. According to Reuters, drug hitmen are suspected in Barrón's death—the second journalist killed this month in a state that has become a new battleground for drug cartels.
Barrón was at his home in Gómez Palacio when a group of armed men beat and kidnapped him, Milenio adds.
The reporter worked for the newspaper La Opinión de Torreón, where he covered the police beat for 10 years, El Universal adds. Only days beforehand, Barrón had covered the firing of 302 police officers in Torreón for abuse of authority, Milenio adds.
Barrón's death follows the killing of another journalist in Durango state, Carlos Ortega, who was shot earlier this month after writing that he'd been threatened by local government officials.
English PEN is shocked by
English PEN is shocked by the abduction and murder of La Opinión crime reporter Eliseo Barrón Hernández on 25-26 May 2009. Barrón, who had recently covered a police corruption scandal, is the second journalist to be shot dead in Durango state this month. His death brings to 22 the number of writers and print journalists killed in Mexico since 2004.
Eliseo Barrón Hernández, crime reporter for the Torreón-based daily newspaper La Opinión and other local newspapers in Gómez Palacio, Durango state, was abducted on 25 May 2009 and subsequently murdered. On the night of 25 May around eight hooded and armed men reportedly entered Barrón's house in Gómez Palacio, beat him in front of his wife and two children, and forced him into a vehicle parked outside. His body was found the next morning in a ditch in the municipality of Tlahualiko, Durango, next to Coahuila state. He had a gunshot wound to his head and according to some reports his body also bore signs of torture.
Barrón had reportedly covered police and crime for La Opinión, based in Torreón in the neighbouring state of Coahuila, for the last 10 years. It is understood that he had recently reported on a corruption scandal in the Torreón police as a result of which 302 police officers were fired and at least 20 others were investigated.
The journalist's family has filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) metrologic . The local authorities have not make public any leads or possible motives for the crime, however the investigation has reportedly been taken over by federal authorities for reasons that are as yet unclear.
English PEN calls on the Mexican authorities to carry out a full and impartial investigation into Barrón's murder and all other unresolved journalist killings and to bring to justice those responsible. It also urges the authorities to fulfil promises to make such crimes against journalists a federal offence.
Condolences
Our condolences to you, too, Eduardo. I'll send you an email at the address you gave.
Dean Graber
Knight Center
This is Eduardo Vasquez
This is Eduardo Vasquez Eliseo Barron's cousin my condolences go out to his family and his wife and kids.
Eliseo Barron was my cousin
Eliseo Barron was my cousin and i need to know everything that happened.if you could please email me back we were related cuz my mom was his aunt alicia barron.please email me back
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