Reporter Kidnapped and Threatened for Planning to Cover Puebla Peace March Reporters Without Borders
go to original October 9, 2014

Reporter Miguel Ortega Bonilla is requesting protection for himself and his family after being threatened and abducted for several hours on 5 October in Teziutlán, in the central state of Puebla, as he was about to cover a peace march in the neighbouring town of Chignautla.

As four men forced him into car in the centre of Teziutlán, Ortega managed to send his family a WhatsApp messaging saying, “Help, red alert, I’m being kidnapped.” Thereafter the family spent seven tense hours before learning that he had been released alive.

After holding him and threatening him, Ortega’s abductors dumped him in a ravine with his hands tied. Ortega finally managed to free himself and return home.

His abductors did not explain why they kidnapped Ortega, who reports for the RexRadio news website, but he received threats the previous day telling him not to cover the peace march. He had not previously been threatened in connection with his journalistic work.

Ortega told Reporters Without Borders: “My kidnappers put a trash bag over my head and took me to an isolated place outside town, where they contacted someone by radio and asked if they should kill me or just scare me. Then they put a gun to the back of my back, pushed me into a ravine and left me there with my hands tied.”

Read the full story at Reporters Without Borders

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