Xalapa, Veracruz: Reporter Ricardo Villanueva Is Abducted By Armed Men

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Authorities activated a search operation to find the whereabouts of Ricardo Villanueva, a reporter for the newspaper Presente de Poza Rica.

Ricardo Villanueva, a reporter for the newspaper Presente Veracruz, was abducted this Monday, April 3, in the municipality of Poza Rica, Veracruz. According to a press release from the newspaper, the 27-year-old was taken by armed men from a mechanic's shop where he was repairing his motorcycle in the Lázaro Cárdenas neighborhood.

Minutes before the kidnapping, the reporter had gone to report on an arrest and seizure of stolen fuel in the La Varita neighborhood of Poza Rica, in the north of Veracruz. At the moment, state authorities, headed by the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP), are searching for the victim in an air and ground operation.

According to initial reports, Villanueva's kidnappers were traveling in three vehicles, a white van, a black Suburban and a gray Audi. The armed men allegedly presented themselves as "ministerial police", a fact that the journalist, who to this day is still missing, tried to record.

Diario Presente Veracruz, arrests of reporter and armed attacks

The newspaper Presente Veracruz, which specializes in security coverage in the northern region of the state, has registered attacks against its reporters, but also arrests of two of them for the crime of kidnapping. On June 18, 2021, Enrique L. V. was arrested along with another man; both remain in custody, accused of having kidnapped a man whom they allegedly held captive in the Vainilla hotel in the Palma Sola neighborhood of Poza Rica.

Previously, on December 14, 2020, Antonio de Jesús "N", another reporter of the Presente Veracruz newspaper, was captured in the municipality of Papantla along with nine other people for the kidnapping of a victim. The offense was committed on December 12, 2020 against a 32-year-old person in the municipality of Cazones de Herrera.

On November 21, 2020, another vehicle of the Presente newspaper was shot at in the Prensa Nacional neighborhood, in front of the home of a reporter. The perpetrators fired several shots at another Tsuru vehicle belonging to the newspaper and allegedly fled on motorcycles.

In August 2015, the offices of the newspaper Presente Veracruz were shot at on 2 de Abril Street in the Manuel Ávila Camacho neighborhood in Poza Rica. The perpetrators also burned the newspaper's vehicles.

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