Authorities urged to act quickly after journalist goes missing

Reporters Without Borders called on the federal and local authorities to make up for lost time in the investigation into the 20 January disappearance of journalist Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, of the regional daily Tabasco Hoy. The journalist had just written two by-lined articles, one on drug trafficking and the other about bank hold-ups when he went missing in Villahermosa in the south-east of the country. “Recent articles by Rodolfo Rincón Taracena point to a link between his disappearance and his professional activities”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The federal authorities and Tabasco state must rapidly join forces to find this journalist safe and well.” According to the online edition of Tabascohoy.com, Rincón Taracena went missing when he was due to complete an article about a gang of bank robbers. The journalist's wife, Rosalinda Pedrero, told police that her husband had phoned her for the last time at midday to say that he would be leaving work later than planned. The family reported his disappearance to the Tabasco state justice department on 23 January while the newspaper contacted the federal justice ministry the following day. In addition to the article that he had not quite finished, the journalist had just carried out an investigation into places where drugs were being sold in the Atasta and Tamulté neighbourhoods of Villahermosa and had named some dealers.