Top Mexican journalist found alive after ‘violent’ kidnapping, disappearance

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A prominent journalist in western Mexico who was abducted by armed men has been found alive and well, prosecutors said Wednesday.

It was the second case this week in Mexico in which officials announced they had found high-profile missing people, without giving details on how they were found. It raised suspicions in a country where drug cartels often briefly abduct people to intimidate them.

The fate of radio and television anchor Jaime Barrera gained national attention in part because his daughter, Itzul Barrera, sits on the leadership council of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party.

PROMINENT MEXICAN JOURNALIST DISAPPEARS AFTER BEING KIDNAPPED ‘IN A VIOLENT MANNER’

Barrera vanished Monday after leaving a radio station where he worked in the city of Guadalajara. He never arrived at a television station where he was scheduled to host a show.

On Tuesday, the chief prosecutor of Jalisco state said Barrera had been kidnapped “in a violent manner” by three or four assailants, at least one of whom carried a rifle, but did not say whether any ransom demand had been made.

A Mexican flag waves in front of The National Palace, the office of the president, in Mexico Citys main square, the Zocalo, at sunrise, April 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The kidnapping occurred in broad daylight in a busy section of Guadalajara, the capital of the western state of Jalisco, just yards away from the radio station. Barrera was snatched by the assailants before he could reach his car.

Jalisco is home to the drug cartel of the same name.

Mexico is one of the deadliest places in the world for reporters outside of war zones. The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented the killings of at least 55 journalists in Mexico since 2018, when López Obrador took office.

Late Tuesday, officials announced they had found two federal investigators after they went missing in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero while investigating the disappearances of 43 students almost 10 years ago.

Officials did not say how the man and woman were found or whether they had been freed from captivity.

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Guerrero has been the scene of turf battles between several drug cartels.