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AP
Photographers Guillermo Luna Varela, left, and Gabriel Huge, right, were among four people found slain and dumped in plastic bags in a canal in Veracruz, Mexico on Thursday, May 3, 2012. A fellow journalist said Luna was Huge's nephew.
Three photojournalists who worked the perilous crime beat in Mexico's violence-torn Veracruz state were among four people found dismembered and dumped in plastic bags in a canal Thursday, less than a week after a reporter for an investigative newsmagazine was found dead in her home in the state capital.
The targeting of sources of independent information by two warring drug cartels threatens to add Veracruz to the growing list of Mexican states where fear snuffs out reporting on the drug war.
Reuters
Regina Martinez was found dead in the bathroom of her house in Xalapa on April 28, 2012.
The bodies of photographers Guillermo Luna, Gabriel Huge and Esteban Rodriguez were discovered in the town of Boca del Rio along with that of Luna's girlfriend, Irasema Becerra.
Regina Martinez, a correspondent for the national magazine Proceso, was found dead in her bathroom on Saturday with signs she had been beaten and strangled.
The London-based press freedom group Article 19 said in a report last year that Luna, Varela and Rodriguez were among 13 Veracruz journalists who had fled their homes because of crime-related threats.
In total, more than 70 journalists have been murdered in Mexico in the last decade, according to the government-funded National Human Rights Commission. The latest grisly discovery came on World Press Freedom Day.
-- The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
Felix Marquez / AP
Police remove from a canal plastic bags containing the dismembered bodies of four people in Boca del Rio, Veracruz, on May 3, 2012. The fourth victim was Guillermo Luna's girlfriend, Irasema Becerra, state prosecutors said.
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Americans should stay out of Mexico, if they will do this to their own.... Another thing to remember is those same killers move freely across our border.
Drug Cartels Ignorant? I often wonder about the mentality of these Drug Lords and Dictators across the World. Their very actions bring to their door step the hatred of their government and the people. Those actions also bring to their door step the military and the billions of dollars of support from countries like the United States. Now why would any businessman, drug or otherwise, intentionally bring such a war upon themselves? If an individual like Mr. Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera is intelligent enough to build his drug empire into a multibillion dollar business, he certainly should be intelligent enough to know there is a better way to protect and grow his business than his current methods.
The Drug Cartel’s past and present business model is what brought to their door step the hatred and actions of their own people, their government and the investment of billions of dollars and the military by the United States government! Why not change the business model to take advantage of the current state of domestic affairs in a way that benefits the Cartels, the people and the government, which will also rid them of the involvement of the United States in their affairs? Use the same man power, capital and alliances to bring about a change of support and unity. As a consultant I can say that the solution is at hand and can be implemented quickly and effectively. Google “the garden master cpu’s”.
I understood that the Cartels are in business to make money! Why are they not focused on that end in mind? Why do they allow themselves to be sucked into this war, that more that likely was/is manipulated by an outside influence? Where are these Cartel Bosses? Why do they not learn from past mistakes to perfect their business model? I am beginning to think they are merely fabricated caricatures and scapegoats used by agencies to further multiple ulterior motives. Are there really Drug Lords and Cartel Bosses out there? I wonder. You certainly never hear from them! If there are, you would think they would be smart enough to change things. thegardenmasterqc@gmail.com