SAN SEBASTIÁN RÍO HONDO, Mexico — A municipal mayor, several local officials, and a news reporter covering an assignment were illegally detained in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca, local media reported.
The victims include journalist Graciano Gómez Lescas of the media outlet TV Bus, who was abducted while documenting events in the community of El Portillo within the municipality of San Sebastián Río Hondo. Along with Gómez Lescas, local authorities confirmed the detention of municipal mayor Rigoberto Primitivo Ramírez López, his deputy Juan Hernández, executive secretary Juan Domingo Pascual Velásquez, local representative Cirilo Eduardo Hernández, and his wife, Irma Martínez.
According to preliminary local reports, the group was taken by force by Indigenous community leader Efraín Ramírez Hernández and local political figure Efraín Martínez, accompanied by a group of residents. The illegal detention stems from a long-standing dispute over the allocation of public resources and official recognition between elected municipal leaders and community authorities.
The incident sparked swift condemnation from press freedom advocates. Froylán Méndez Ferrer, general secretary of the National Syndicate of Media Workers, emphasized that the unlawful detention of a reporter constitutes a serious crime under Mexican penal law and a direct violation of freedom of expression.
Méndez Ferrer noted that under principles upheld by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, journalists covering public interest events act as independent observers, not parties to local conflicts.
Distressed families and media representatives have urgently requested intervention from Oaxaca Government Secretary Jesús Romero López, State Attorney General Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla, and the State Human Rights Protection Commission (Defensoría de los Derechos Humanos del Pueblo de Oaxaca) to secure the immediate release and safe return of the captives.
Source: El Universal
