(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 August 2003, RSF voiced deep concern over the fate of journalist Jesus Mejía Lechuga, of Radio MS-Noticias, in Martínez de la Torre (in the southeastern state of Veracruz). Mejía has been missing for almost one month. In a letter to Veracruz State Governor Miguel Alemán Velázco, RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard called […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 August 2003, RSF voiced deep concern over the fate of journalist Jesus Mejía Lechuga, of Radio MS-Noticias, in Martínez de la Torre (in the southeastern state of Veracruz). Mejía has been missing for almost one month.
In a letter to Veracruz State Governor Miguel Alemán Velázco, RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard called for a thorough investigation to locate the journalist and determine the cause of his disappearance. The organisation also asked to be kept informed of the investigation’s progress.
Mejía was last seen on 12 July, when he interviewed Alfonso Alegretti, a local municipal representative of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI).
In his programmes “A Primera Hora” and “Voz y Palabra”, Mejía had accused Guillermo Zorilla Pérez, a PRI representative in the federal Parliament, of being linked to local drug traffickers. MS-Noticias said three of its reporters have been physically attacked in recent months. One journalist was assaulted by a group of Zorilla supporters.
Veracruz State Prosecutor Pericles Namorado Urrutia maintains that Mejía is on the run because he is a suspect in the theft of a car. His wife Magdalena Maza Mendoza, however, insists that it is highly unlikely that he would have chosen to go into hiding. According to a local journalist, if Mejía had truly gone into hiding, the police would have found him by now and his family would not have reported his disappearance to police on 13 July. A complaint was launched against the journalist after he was reportedly loaned a car that turned out to have been stolen by a third party.
