Severed Head of Mexican Politician Dumped Outside Newspaper's Office
Pastor Dale Morgan
Severed Head of Mexican Politician Dumped Outside Newspaper's Office*
May 28, 2007
MEXICO CITY — The severed head of a town councilman was dumped outside
the offices of a newspaper in Mexico's Gulf state of Tabasco in what the
paper's publishers said was an attempt to intimidate reporters.
The head, left outside Tabasco Hoy's offices in Villahermosa, was
wrapped in newspaper inside a cooler and left by a man who stepped out
of a sport utility vehicle early Saturday, the paper said on its Web site.
Police and soldiers said the head belonged to Terencio Sastre, a
councilman from the nearby municipality of El Cedro, whose body was
found on the side of a road Friday.
"It has all the characteristics of an act of intimidation and an attempt
to silence the freedom of information that the publishers exercise,"
Tabasco Hoy said in a statement.
It sent a letter to President Felipe Calderon and other officials,
urging them to guarantee the staff's safety. The newspaper did not
discuss who was behind the killing.
Mexican drug gangs often decapitate rivals as a means of intimidation
and are blamed for killing dozens of Mexican journalists in recent years.
In January, Tabasco Hoy reporter Rodolfo Rincon disappeared and has not
been seen since.
Shortly before his disappearance, Rincon wrote an article on drug gangs
that identified houses where narcotics were sold.
Mexico has become the world's second-most dangerous place for
journalists after Iraq with seven journalists killed across the country
since October. A Mexican TV reporter and cameraman disappeared earlier
this month in the northern city of Monterrey.
Many journalists hold back from reporting on drug gangs.
On Thursday, the newspaper Cambio Sonora in the northwestern city of
Hermosillo announced it was shutting down temporarily after assailants
tossed a hand grenade from a passing car at its offices.