The vanishing of Victor Fernandez Alvarez, a Mexican journalist whose detached head was discovered this month, has revealed a division between the media and law enforcement as "violence against journalists" has intensified in a union-controlled Mexican port.

According to reports, Alvarez went missing the first week of April after he was allegedly threatened over his investigative reports on the Acapulco port area, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. His family notified local prosecutors immediately.

However, the latter refused to file the report of a missing person and told the disappeared journalist's loved ones to come back after 72 hours. In relation to this, the public prosecutors revealed, the cut-off head, which was discovered on the corner of a high school in the area last Saturday, belonged to the journalist.

Case Still Covered in Mystery

Press freedom organization, Articulo19 director, Ana Cristina Ruelas said, Alvarez's case remains covered in mystery. She added that the journalists doubt the local institutions who they regard as to be in conspiracy with a planned crime.

The organization leader emphasized that the only sure thing is that, Alvarez vanished in Acapulco's port area, and that the same prosecuting attorneys who are supposedly investigating the journalist's disappearance, have been antagonistic toward the journalists lately.

The violence journalists are experiencing, according to Ruelos, specifically in the State of Guerrero, has intensified "to a level we never witnessed before," and this, she continued, is very alarming. 

Incidentally, in both the cities of Acapulco and Igual, there have recently been various threats reportedly, by organized crime groups against some media practitioners." Jorge Zuriel Delos Santos Barilla, the Attorney General of the state, did not give an immediate response to an email sent him requesting for comment.

Alvarez as the Third Journalist Reportedly Killed in Mexico

The alleged murder of Alvarez is the third similar case where a journalist was reported killed in this country since the start of 2020. 

In January, Fidel Avila, a radio journalist, was also discovered killed after he went missing a few months before. Then, on March 30, another journalist identified as Maria Elena Ferral was shot dead by an unidentified man riding on a motorcycle in Veracruz, the state Mexico known for having intense violence against journalists. 

Presently, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, 14 journalists remain missing in the country. A few days after the discovery of a dismembered head, which was thought to be Alvarez's, an anonymous account on Twitter posted some screenshots of threats which the members of the alleged narcotics cartel, along with the list of the names of news reporters, which included his.

The said tweet was posted along with the "matapulco" hashtag. This is a combined Spanish word, which means "kill and Acapulco." Part of the screenshot is another threat closing with, "Let's see if the commanders who invite you for food and drink will protect you," and that the alleged "cleansing" has already begun with journalists. 

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