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Fifth Mexican Journalist Killed This Year

14 April 2010 09:49 (UTC +04:00)

Columnist Enrique Villicana Palomares Found with Throat Slit
Baku - APA. Enrique VillicaÃ±a Palomares, a columnist with the Voice of Michoacan newspaper, was reported missing late last week after failing to arrive for a university writing course that he teaches, APA reports. The reporterâ€™s body was found with his throat slit on Saturday in the Michoacan state capital, Morelia , federal prosecutors were quoted by AP as saying. Investigators have yet to establish whether his murder was in relation to his work as a journalist.

â€œWe condemn the brutal murder of Enrique VillicaÃ±a Palomares, and call on the Mexican authorities to promptly investigate whether Mr. VillicaÃ±aâ€™s death was linked to his work,â€ said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills . â€œJournalists are now being murdered with such chilling regularity in Mexico that the world risks becoming inured to their killings. This must not be allowed to happen. The Mexican government must do everything in its power to end this shameful epidemic of journalist murders.â€

VillicaÃ±aâ€™s family told press freedom observers that the journalist had reported on attacks by armed groups against the Purepecha indigenous group, of which he was also a member.

VillicaÃ±a is the fifth journalist in Mexico to be killed this year, according to the IPI Death Watch. Most were murdered in connection with their reporting on drug crime.