Three journalists have been kidnapped in southern Mexico's Guerrero state over the past few days, two press rights organizations reported Thursday, demanding urgent government action.
The groups Article 19 and CIMAC said in a statement that journalist Marco Antonio Toledo, director of the El Espectador weekly and a correspondent for various media outlets, had been kidnapped by armed men in the Guerrero town of Taxco on November 19 along with his wife and son.
The state prosecutor's office on Thursday announced a search for the journalist.
The organizations also reported that journalists Silvia Arce and Alberto Sanchez had been kidnapped on November 22, also in Taxco, a mountain town about 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. Both journalists work for the digital media site RedSiete.
"The organizations urge federal and state authorities to coordinate urgently and expeditiously to find these journalists alive," the statement added.
Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders.
On November 16, photojournalist Ismael Villagomez was shot and killed in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. So far three people have been arrested in the killing.
At least five other journalists have been slain in Mexico in 2023, and more than 150 since 2000, according to RSF.
