Latino Daily News: Bringing You the Latest Hispanic Current Events and News Stories 24/7

The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) states its concern for the kidnapping of French journalist Romeo Langlois, on April 28th in Caquetá, Colombia.

According to reports, the journalist was covering an anti-narcotics operation carried out by an army unit when the unit was attacked by the FARC.  Langlois was injured during the attack, and afterward, his whereabouts could not be determined.  Colombian authorities have stated that there are indications that the reporter is in the custody of the FARC.  At the beginning of April, this illegal organization had vowed to refrain from kidnapping.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur considers it vital that the life, integrity and liberty of the journalist be unconditionally respected, and it demands that he be released immediately.

The IACHR has specified that independent journalists who cover armed conflict do not lose their status as civilians, regardless of the risks to which they are exposed as a result of the conflict.  As such, they continue to be protected by the applicable guarantees of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, particularly by the guarantees derived from the principle of distinction.

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An Argentine priest was suspended after a complaint for mistreatment was filed by a domestic employee, who says that she had a son with the cleric.

The decision to dismiss the Rev. Juan Bojcetic was made by the Catholic bishop of Moron, Luis Eichhorn, after the accusations against the priest for domestic violence were made public.

“Due to the complaints about the conduct of Father Bojcetic, the bishop of the diocese preventively removed him from the leadership of the San Pedro Apostol parish,” said the diocese in a communique published by the Catholic news agency Aica.

The case was brought before the courts by Lorena Etcheverry, an attorney and former secretary of the priest, who said she was a witness to arguments with and “beatings” that Bojcetic dealt out to Cristina Jaskuloski when the woman was a domestic employee at the parish and by whom, she said, the priest had fathered a son.

Bojcetic had agreed to pay Jaskuloski a monthly amount in foodstuffs in exchange for her leaving her job at the parish.

Etcheverry confirmed to the press that the agreement was made after Jaskuloski experienced several violent situations when she demanded money from Bojcetic to take care of her son.

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One of Canada’s most wanted fugitives was arrested in the western Mexican state of Nayarit, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office told Efe on Wednesday.

Reputed drug trafficker Nicholas Michael Lucier was detained in the Pacific coast city of Nuevo Vallarta, Leonel Escobedo said.

The arrest of Lucier, who was using the alias “Corry Corbett,” followed an “intense operation,” according to the spokesman, who said the Web page of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police describes the fugitive as an international cocaine trafficker.

Nayarit state police caught up with Lucier two days after Canadian national Thomas Gisby was gunned down outside a coffee shop in Nuevo Vallarta.

Lucier will be turned over to the federal Attorney General’s Office, Escobedo said.

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This week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio will participate in a series of events in the Florida Panhandle. On Tuesday, the Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted a constituent coffee for Rubio, where he met with business and community leaders.

There he stated his desire to see all British Petroleum spill funds going entirely to Gulf states.  There is a plan in Congress where Gulf States would get 80 percent of those funds and 20 percent would go elsewhere.

Rubio is only senator from the five Gulf state to object to splitting an estimated $20 billion in oil spill compensation monies.

Today Rubio toured both Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. At Eglin he assured his audience he would not support automatic cuts for the military. 

Rubio said to ABC 3: “We have this proposal for a dramatic reduction in defense spending on top of an already programed cut at a time when we need a stronger military, not a weaker one.”

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After a man robbed a New Mexico liquor store by ramming a truck through the front door, police were on the look out for the suspect.

On Sunday, police in Albuquerque arrested Sam Muller for crashing into and robbing a local liquor store.

Video footage of the April 6 incident allegedly shows the 21-year-old crashing a truck through the front door of Freeway Liquors, backing up, and driving away. Two hours later, he allegedly made his way into the store through the hole left by the truck. He got away with pocketfuls and even a bucket of cigarettes. Muller also took a roll of lottery tickets from the store and a laptop belonging to one the store’s employees.

Muller was taken into custody after someone heard him bragging about the burglary.

He reportedly told police he did it because he was hungry, but after police pointed out he did not actually steal any food, Muller told authorities he forgot to grab some.

He has been charged with commercial burglary and larceny.

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For the last 28 years, Florida resident Blanca Riveron, 62, suffered through a debilitating and persistent cough.

The Cuban-born mother simply suffered through it for nearly three decades until about 5 months ago when she began coughing up blood. Worried, her daughter took Riveron to see a doctor.

After tests and x-rays, doctors found what they believed to be a cancerous lump in the mother’s lung and told her she would need surgery and possibly other procedures.

Another daughter, Melody, who remains in Cuba, was being told about Riveron’s condition, when she reminded her mother that she once accidentally inhaled the pit of a fruit called a nispero in 1984.

Thinking there was no way the fruit pit could have ended up in her lung and remained there for so long, Riveron continued medical treatment under the assumption she had cancer.

A few weeks after that conversation with her daughter, Riveron was in the car on her way home from a second endoscopy. She began coughing violently and eventually something flew out of her mouth. What had come out was in fact the very fruit pit she had inhaled all those years ago.

Asked how she feels now, Riveron says that while her breathing is still not perfect – likely due to damage done by the pit – her cough is almost completely gone.

To ensure she does not actually have cancer, Riveron is returning to the doctor so they can check her lungs.

Despite doctors’ worries however, she believed the pit was the problem all along and says now that it’s out, her life has “changed completely”.

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Black children are less likely than white children to receive medication for abdominal pain in the emergency department (ED) even when they report severe pain, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 28, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

“The emergency department serves as our nation’s health care safety net, where all children can receive care regardless of their insurance status, ability to pay or race,” said lead author Tiffani J. Johnson, MD, pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a postdoctoral scholar at RAND-University of Pittsburgh. “It is concerning to find that black children are less likely than white children to receive pain medication for treatment of their abdominal pain.”

Dr. Johnson and her colleagues analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) for patients who went to the ED for abdominal pain from 2006-2009. The NHAMCS is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

In addition to the administration of pain medication, researchers looked at the use of diagnostic tests, length of stay, how often patients returned to the ED after 72 hours, and admission rates for 2,298 patients younger than age 21, representing 8.1 million patients. They compared these outcomes in white (53 percent of patients), black (23 percent) and Hispanic (21 percent) children.

Results showed that black and Hispanic children were more likely to stay in the ED for more than six hours compared to white children. However, there were no racial differences in what tests were performed to evaluate the cause of abdominal pain or hospital admission rates.

“All children deserve equal access to high-quality health care,” said Dr. Johnson. “Identifying racial differences in the care of children is an important first step in improving the quality and equity of care that children receive in the emergency department. We need to do more research to help understand why these differences exist.”

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Police in Lodi, California arrested a man after he was robbed at gunpoint.

Humberto Ramos, 42, called 911 saying he had been robbed at gunpoint by two men who were fleeing on bicycles.

Police arrived at Ramos’ location, but due to a language barrier, the officers were having trouble understanding him, that is until he reportedly said, “Follow me,” made a U-turn and took off towards the alleged robbers.

He quickly caught up to the men, 29-year-old Adam Ramirez and 23-year-old Victor Alvarado, as they rode down the middle of the road.

Ramos then bumped into Ramirez with his vehicle, knocking him off his bike.

The officers had followed Ramos and after realizing he hit Ramirez, arrested both him and the robbery suspects.

On Ramirez, hundreds of dollars believed to have belonged to Ramos was recovered and was arrested on suspicion of robbery. Alvarez, who was found to be in possession of a 9mm Baretta handgun, was arrested on suspicion of robbery, multiple weapons violations and possession of stolen property.

Ramos, the robbery victim who police said had a no-bail warrant for his arrest, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and assault with a deadly weapon, the weapon being the vehicle he hit Ramirez with.

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A 14-year-old girl confessed to police that she posted photos of herself of Facebook and other online sites in order to solicit clients who wanted sex for money.

The girl’s confession, who is an undocumented immigrant, has led to the arrest of three men by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Pharr police. The men, who solicited the girl’s services after receiving explicit pictures through the internet and through phone, were also illegal immigrants.

Chief of Pharr police, Rube Villescas, stated that investigators don’t believe the teen was forced to prostitute herself, rather she had been
selling herself without a pimp.

The teen came to police with her mother only after believing she may have contracted a sexual disease.

Federal and local authorities continue to investigate how many other men solicited the teen for sex, and also if there are any other girls that may have also been soliciting sex.

The girl was taken into custody and is currently receiving medical treatment.

While in possession of the girl’s cell phone, authorities said it received several text messages from unknown men. On April 24, an officer responded to one of the messages reiterating the girl’s age to discourage the unknown man. Not caring about her age, the man continued discussing a price to have sex with the girl.

It was then that agents arrested the man, later identified as Teofanes Sale Campos (40) in the location he expected to meet the girl.  The other men, Jose Luis Garcia Saldivar (28) and Esteban Lucio (42), were arrested in a similar manner.

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UPDATE: The Dominican government released a statement saying it will help cover the cost of the funerals. A monetary amount was not given.
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Story:

DR1 is reporting that relatives of the seven Dominicans who were killed in a tragic car accident in the Bronx, New York over the weekend have gone public with a plea for financial support to bring home the bodies of the grandparents, 88-year old Jacobo Nunez and 83-year old Ana Julia Martinez for burial. They will be buried in Jagua, Dajabon province, where they raised 18 children. The family members are seeking government or private help to bring the bodies back home. The grandparents had traveled to the US for a month-long stay with their children who had immigrated to the US. Josefina, 40, and Maria Codina, 36, Yaslin Gonzalez, 10, Naily Rosario, 9, and Marilyn Rosario, 3 were also killed in the tragic accident.

To help the family pay the estimated $100,000 cost for the funerals, cabbies of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers are stepping up and helping to raise the money as well as donating funds from themselves.

NYSFTD spokesman Fernando Mateo told NY Daily News, “Aside from the pain, it’s going to cost a lot of money to bury seven people. We estimate the cost may be upwards of $100,000 — and this family simply just doesn’t have it. We can’t imagine the pain. This is not only sad for only the Dominican community, it’s sad for the entire City of New York.”

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Slyvester Stallone, now 65, told reporters that he is ready to once more don his jungle gear as he is set to star in Rambo 5.

The actor told reporters he is working on a script in which the former Vietnam veteran fights his final battle against the Mexican drug cartels.

During an interview with MTV, Stallone hinted the showdown would be in Mexico and also claimed that Rambo’s destiny was “to go out in a blaze of glory”.

Stallone told reporters, “It’s one thing where you lay down the final culmination of your life where you can articulate it, but also act on it where he realizes what his destiny really is.” In Stallone’s opinion, Rambo needs a hero’s ending. He also stated that Rambo’s destiny is “ not to be a farmer, it’s not to be obscure - it’s to go out in a blaze of glory in a heroic fashion ... That’s who he is.”

This is Rambo’s fifth adventure since the filming of the original in 1982; the latest installment was released in 2008.

In 2010 Stallone was asked whether he would he want to do another Rambo. Stallone replied: “God, no. There’s nothing left to kill!”. That is, except the Mexican drug lords!

Watch out Narcos.

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“Havaianas. The real ones.”

In 1962, the first pair of Havaianas (flip-flops) was created with inspiration from the Zori, the Japanese sandals made of fabric straps and rice straw soles. Though they were originally available in only 8 colors, today there are 20 different colors and more than 200 different styles of the durable sandal.

The Brazilian company is now celebrating its 50-year anniversary. In June, the company will release the limited edition “Originals” model for $28, with all proceeds going to UNICEF.

Havaianas reportedly sells more than 200 million pairs of flip-slops a year, making over $1.4 billion in sales last year.

While Havaianas can be found in more than 2,000 U.S. stores, they are carried in almost 100,000 in Brazil. In its home country, the brand is said to be more popular than Coca Cola with brand awareness at 100 percent, meaning everyone in Brazil know about Havaianas.

Check out these Havaianas. Overall, the footwear cost from $18 to more than $200 dollars.

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The famous Colombian singer, Shakira, serves up her new hit single and video “Addicted to You” which airs worldwide today said reports.

The steamy footage reveals Shakira writhing around a chair, soaking in a bathtub, and walking around the streets in the trendiest outfits that highlight the diva’s sex appeal.

Anthony Mandler, known for his work for famous artist such as Rihanna and The Killers, directed the video which was set in Los Angeles, California.

“Addicted to You”, is the fifth and last single of her Spanish album titled, Sale el Sol. Other hits from the record include “Loca” and “Rabiosa” featuring Pitbull.

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Andy Garcia, whose new film For Greater Glory opens on June 1st nationwide has already opened in Mexico.

The film tells the story of the Cristiada (Cristero Wars) which erupted when the Mexican socialist government of President Putarco Calles attempted to suppress the Catholic Church.

In a recent interview, Garcia discusses the fight for absolute freedom and how this ideal connects to his Cuban-American background.

He also discusses the forgotten history of the Cristiada and his many hopes and aspirations for the film.

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In the latest terrorism book former head of CIA’s Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, Jr. defends “enhanced interrogation techniques” like waterboarding.

Many of the methods Rodriguez suggests in his book,” Hard Measure: How Aggressive CIA Actions after 9/11 Saved American Lives,” are considered extreme methods of torture.

Rodriguez, who never publicly responded to the criticisms of his interrogation techniques, argues that his instilled programs were essential in protecting America from terrorist groups.

He not only defends the waterboarding program, but he also defends his order to destroy video evidence of interrogation sessions with Al Qaeda members.

Rodriguez also goes as far as pointing fingers to the Pakistani government, who he says are actually aiding terrorists. In one instance in his book he mentions that a corrupt Pakistani policeman tipped off 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed through an email saying “They know where you are”, when the American officials where on his tail.

Another target in Rodriguez’s criticisms is the FBI. He states, “Could we have gotten the same information using FBI practices?”

In regards to Nancy Pelosi’s statement of not knowing about the waterboarding program, Rodriguez says Pelosi posed no objections. He states, “I know she got it” and blames her for “reinventing the truth”.

Lastly, Rodriguez takes aim at both the CIA inspector general’s office and Obama administration for its reliance on drones stating “they should not become the drug of choice”.

According to Amazon, Puerto Rican–born Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., served the United States for twenty-five years as an undercover officer before bringing his wealth of field knowledge to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center.  Rodriguez and his book promise to bring big controversies to the political arena.

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Hilarious news parody The Onion:

Mitt Romney began actively courting the nation’s 50 million Hispanic voters this week when he introduced his new sidekick, an animated parrot named Paco ... Paco made his first appearance in the Romney campaign commercial which has begun running in Florida and Texas.

Faux news, The Onion News Network, is notorious for writing satirical stories around real news and often confusing those out of the loop. No doubt this video will upset those unaware the story is satire.

However, some have considered Romney’s actual Spanish-language ads to be a joke as well.

Romney Courts Hispanic Vote With Animated Sombrero-Wearing Parrot

Read more at The Onion News Network →

A brutal kidnapping in Reynosa was caught on video and is attracting national attention in Mexico and has gone viral online according to reports.

The video, which aired on Televisa’s nightly news, shows a man being chased, beaten, and thrown in the back of a pickup truck all in broad daylight!  More shocking is that no one came to his aid. 

Residents of the surrounding area confirmed through Twitter that the kidnapping happened on Hidalgo Boulevard, a busy street full of shopping centers.

Dozens of cars passed by the incident and offered no help, and there was a complete lack of police presence.

The pickup was later found in a neighborhood in the city’s South-side, but there is no news on the victim’s whereabouts. The victim is also yet to be identified.

Would you have helped?

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Members of the Hispanic community of southern Arizona marched through the streets Tuesday to demand an end to the deportations and racism provoked by state laws like SB 1070.

Hispanics “are the base and strength of the pyramid we live on,” Raul Alcaraz, representative of the South Side Workers Center, told some 200 demonstrators carrying banners through the streets of Tucson slamming Arizona’s SB 1070 and deportations.

“We’re marching here to defend immigrants’ rights that are being attacked with unjust laws like SB 1070. This law has hurt many of our communities, sowing terror and breaking up families,” Tucson native Diana Leon told Efe.

Leon, the mother of a 2-year-old, believes that if SB 1070 is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, many families will leave the state of Arizona out of fear of being arrested by police and facing possible deportation.

“Though my daughter and I are United States citizens, we also have Mexican blood and it’s important for me that she sees the importance of fighting for our rights as human beings,” Leon said.

People like Luis Gomez, an undocumented day laborer, said the situation is getting more and more difficult for people who have no papers.

“I’ve been waiting for many years for the chance to get my ‘papers’ and I still can’t,” the Mexican immigrant told Efe.

Even so, he has no thought of going back to Mexico, since his three children, one of them about to finish high school, were born in the United States and he believes that here they have better a chance for success.

“If we go back to Mexico, I don’t believe they can continue their studies, it would be a lot more difficult because even though they speak Spanish, they don’t write it very well, so I don’t think they’re at a level to go to school in Mexico,” he said.

For her part, Isabel Garcia, director of the Arizona Human Rights Coalition, said that the future of immigrants in the state of Arizona is far from promising.

“We see indications that the Supreme Court could turn all the police in Arizona into ‘migra’ (immigration agents),” the activist told Efe.

On April 25 the nation’s highest court heard arguments for and against SB 1070, which aims to criminalize the presence of undocumented immigrants, and its ruling is expected by the end of June.

Garcia said she is worried about the possible approval of the SB 1070 article that is currently suspended, which authorizes policemen to question the immigration status of people “suspected” of being undocumented.

“If the Supreme Court rules in favor of SB 1070, it will be legalizing racism,” she said.

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Colombia’s FARC guerrillas admitted on Tuesday that they are holding French journalist Romeo Langlois, who disappeared three days ago in the middle of a firefight between security forces and the guerrillas in the southern province of Caqueta.

The acknowledgment came in a telephone call to a Colombian journalist from a woman identifying herself as a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

“We have the French reporter in our power,” the woman told a correspondent of Caracol Radio in La Union Peneya, the rural village where Langlois was last seen.

“We have declared him a prisoner of war,” she added, explaining that the FARC decided to hold Langlois because he was wearing a helmet and other military-issue clothing.

The purported guerrilla confirmed that the French reporter had been wounded in the left shoulder and had received medical attention from the insurgents.

The Caracol reporter said that the woman asserted she belonged to the 15th Front of the FARC, the guerrilla unit that last Saturday clashed with a contingent of Colombian troops and police in La Union Peneya.

Three soldiers and a police officer died in the fighting, which broke out as the troops were conducting an anti-drug operation accompanied by Langlois, a correspondent in Colombia for France 24 television and Paris daily Le Figaro.

On Monday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that the government had “clear indications” that Langlois was in the hands of the FARC and demanded that the rebels free the reporter.

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The Spanish government and Spain-based power utility Red Electrica de España say they expect President Evo Morales’ administration will provide fair compensation for the REE unit nationalized by Bolivia, a move officials in Madrid say is not linked to Argentina’s expropriation of oil firm YPF.

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s administration, said Wednesday that Spain will monitor the situation to ensure REE is reimbursed for its investments in Bolivia.

“The Spanish government does not like these types of decisions” but it does not see a link between this case and Argentina’s April 16 announcement of plans to expropriate a controlling 51 percent stake in oil firm YPF from Spanish energy giant Repsol, the minister said.

Spain has repeatedly slammed that latter decision as arbitrary and hostile.

“We don’t think there’s a generalized situation in any way. They’re independent situations,” De Guindos said Wednesday in Brussels.

The nationalization of REE unit Transportadora de Electricidad, announced by Morales during a May Day event, took Madrid and the Spanish utility by surprise.

Bolivian Energy Minister Juan Jose Sosa, however, said Wednesday he informed the Spanish government that Bolivia will take into account whatever investments REE made in its nationalized unit.

Sosa told ATB television that he spoke with Spanish Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria on “quite friendly” terms about the takeover.

REE, for its part, said Wednesday it hopes to reach an “amicable agreement” with the Bolivian government on fair compensation for its 99.94 percent stake in the expropriated company.

TDE owns and operates the main Bolivian power grid, which supplies 85 percent of the domestic market for electricity.

The compensation process must conform to international legal principles, REE said, noting that the fact its operations in Bolivia “were audited annually” by regulators and global accounting firms should lend transparency to any negotiation.

It also recalled that it invested more than $74 million in Bolivia between 2002 and 2011, $69 million of which were spent on the local electrical distribution network.

Another $14 million invested in projects begun prior to 2002 must be added to that total, bringing total investment to more than $88 million, nearly equal to the $91 million the company paid for TDE, REE said.

REE’s stake in TDE will pass to state-owned Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, Morales said Tuesday, justifying the nationalization by pointing to what he described as the Spanish company’s inadequate investment in its Bolivian operations.

The leftist president pledged, however, to provide fair compensation to REE.

“We are responsible with the companies,” he said Tuesday afternoon from TDE’s headquarters in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, where he traveled after making the initial announcement in La Paz.

“If a company has made investments, we acknowledge the investment and we will always acknowledge the investment,” the president told TDE employees, soldiers and government supporters.

La Paz nationalized four electricity producers in 2010, including subsidiaries of French giant GDF Suez and Britain’s Rurelec.

In contrast to its relatively subdued reaction to the Bolivian government’s takeover of TDE, Spain’s conservative government has blasted Argentina’s expropriation of YPF since it was announced on April 16 and has retaliated by announcing plans to limit imports of Argentine biodiesel.

The Iberian nation also has said it will pursue “measures of a diplomatic nature” in various international forums to respond to the seizure.

Like Bolivia, Argentina justified its nationalization of YPF by pointing to a lack of investment by the parent company.

Large corporations such as Repsol, Iberdrola, Abertis and Aena are among the Spanish companies with operations in Bolivia.

In a ceremony Tuesday at the Margarita gas field, Morales joined Repsol Chairman and CEO Antonio Brufau to inaugurate a gas-processing plant built by a consortium led by the Spanish company and praised the multinational and its boss.

“I want to salute Repsol’s CEO. His presence, his effort, his work, as partners,” the president said at the ceremony just hours after announcing the nationalization of the REE unit.

“I recognize and we recognize the leadership of Repsol, one of the world’s largest international companies, and its investments always will be respected as a partner,” Morales added to applause.

Morales, the first indigenous president of Indian-majority Bolivia, has used previous May Day observances to announce similar moves to assert public control over the Andean nation’s resources and basic services.

The largest move was a takeover of Bolivia’s natural gas sector, which involved requiring foreign energy companies to become minority partners in joint ventures with state-owned YPFB.

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Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) federal law enforcement authorities intercepted a single engine yola type vessel with 14 undocumented citizens of the Dominican Republic.

U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan Watchstanders were contacted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents Friday morning, who reported that the crew of a CBP maritime patrol aircraft had located a migrant vessel transiting from the Dominican Republic towards the west coast of Puerto Rico.

CBP and Puerto Rico Police Department marine units responded, interdicted the migrant vessel and embarked the migrants from the makeshift wooden yola (boat).

The migrants were transferred shortly thereafter to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Matinicus for processing to determine if they had any previous criminal or illegal immigration history in the U.S.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico agreed to prosecute seven other Dominicans, who were also traveling aboard the migrant vessel, of which five are to face charges for illegal entry and two others for illegal reentry into a United States Territory.

People who venture to enter into a U.S. territory not only risk becoming victim of criminal organizations but can also be exposed to the inconvenience of a formal administrative processing and arrest by CBP agents or officers.

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The United Nations human rights office voiced alarm over the killing of a journalist in Mexico over the weekend, and condemned what it said is a “disturbing trend” of media professional being murdered in the country, where more than 70 have been killed over the past 12 years.

“We strongly condemn the murder of Regina Martinez, and are concerned that this disturbing trend of murdering media workers … undermines the exercise of freedom of expression in the country,” said a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, at a press conference in Geneva.

“We call for a thorough independent investigation into this and other similar cases, and urge the Government to immediately implement protection measures for journalists,” he said.

Mr. Colville also welcomed yesterday’s passing, by the Mexican Congress, of two new laws designed to protect journalists and human rights defenders. The new laws are known as the General Victims Act and the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

During a visit to Mexico last year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, emphasized the importance of passing that legislation after meeting with victims and relatives of murdered human rights activists and journalists.

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