Three Journalists Are Kidnapped In Taxco, Guerrero

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Silvina Nayssa Arce Aviles, former director of Social Communication of the Municipality of Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero -during the administrations of former mayors Omar Jalil Flores Majul (2015 to 2018) and Marcos Efrén Parra Gómez (2018 to 2021)-, as well as her husband Alberto Sánchez -who manages the digital media Redsiete-, were abducted by a group of armed subjects, in said municipality, from where journalist Marco Antonio Toledo Jaimes, 59 years old, together with his wife and son, was also kidnapped.

The alleged kidnapping of the first two was denounced by the activist and writer, Julissa Natzely Arce Raya, sister of Silvina Nayssa, through her Facebook social network account, in which she also detailed that her nephews 3, 5 and 13 years of age, were abandoned on the public road by the same armed subjects.

According to testimonies quoted by local media, the couple was kidnapped by a group of armed men near Plaza Taxco, in the Centro neighborhood where their offices are located. After receiving threats from organized crime, Arce Aviles closed his digital news outlet La Pulga Biónica.

On the other hand, Toledo Jaimes -director of the weekly Espectador de Taxco- was abducted along with his wife Guadalupe Denova Flores and his son Alberto Toledo Denova, by a group of armed men, on Sunday, November 19, 2023, inside his private home located in the town of Huixteco, in the municipality of the northern region of Guerrero, without his whereabouts being known so far.

The journalist's wife, 56 years old, is the director of a kindergarten, while the couple's son, 28 years old, works at the Adolfo Prieto General Hospital, both in Taxco de Alarcón.

According to the local newspaper La Crónica, published in Chilpancingo, it was revealed that Toledo Jaimes was kidnapped after publishing a report in which he denounced the approval of an agreement of the municipal government headed by Mario Figueroa Mundo -a Morena political party militant-, for the investment of 13 million pesos in the paving of a street where only the former municipal president Manuel Saidi Pratt, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), lives.

This local newspaper demanded that the government headed by Evelyn Cecia Salgado Pineda immediately release Toledo Jaimes and present him alive, and stated that the journalist received threats from organized crime, so as not to publish information regarding the forced displacement of the "pilgrims" participating in Holy Week in Taxco de Alarcón.

As a result, the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) has now activated three search warrants for Toledo Jaimes, his wife and son, in which it only indicated that they were last seen in Taxco de Alarcón on November 19, 2023, as well as the date of the complaint, on the 22nd of the same month and year.

Later, in a communiqué, the Guerrero justice institution added that it was investigating the disappearance and was searching for five people, among them three journalists, through the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Committed against Journalists and Human Rights Defenders, as well as the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Forced Disappearance and Search for Disappeared Persons.

Likewise, the FGE initiated the investigation file for the crime of disappearance committed by individuals, against whoever or whoever is responsible for the crimes committed against Marco Antonio "N", Guadalupe "N" and Alberto "N".

"Likewise, derived from a criminal report, the crime of disappearance committed by individuals in aggravation of Nayssa 'N' and Alberto 'N' is being investigated; therefore, this institution is waiting for family members to provide statements that provide more data that will allow establishing new lines of investigation," said the state Prosecutor's Office.

"Since these facts became known, agents of the Ministerial Investigation Police carried out the initial investigation to gather evidence that will allow them to find the whereabouts of the probable perpetrators," concluded the FGE.

On the other hand, jointly, the non-governmental organizations Artículo 19 and Comunicación e Información de la Mujer A.C. (CIMAC), called on the Prosecutor's Office for Attention to Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) and the Guerrero justice institution to open the investigation ex officio, "applying the Homologated Protocol for Crimes against Freedom of Expression". The NGOs also asked the Government of Guerrero to coordinate the necessary actions to find the persons kidnapped. 

Taxco, Guerrero

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