On January 2, 2015, Mexican social activist and journalist Moisés Sánchez Cerezo was kidnapped from his home in Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz, Mexico, and killed. According to eyewitness reports, armed men dressed in civilian clothing broke into his house and forced him into a vehicle. The kidnappers also took Sánchez's computer, camera, and cellphones. Sánchez was the founder and director of the weekly newspaper La Unión ("The Union"), where he covered a variety of topics, including political corruption, government mismanagement, and organized crime. He was also active on social media as a reporter, and in his community as a taxi driver, small business owner, and neighborhood organizer. His family initially suspected that the mayor of Medellín de Bravo, Omar Cruz Reyes, was responsible for masterminding the kidnapping because Sánchez was a harsh critic of his administration. The mayor, however, pledged his innocence and stated that Sánchez and he maintained a close friendship. On January 24, his corpse was discovered inside a plastic bag in Manlio Fabio Altamirano, Veracruz. Post-mortem examinations confirmed that his kidnappers cut his throat open and severed his head while he was still alive before mutilating his body into several pieces. Investigators believe that municipal policemen, acting on orders of the mayor, participated in the murder. Sánchez was the first journalist kidnapped and killed in Mexico in 2015.
Background Sánchez began his career in journalism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a house newspaper distributor for Notiver, one of the most-read newspapers in Veracruz. Sánchez became interested in journalism by socializing with reporters early in the morning before his daily distribution. Sánchez did not have a college degree nor any background in journalism. Years later he began participating in several civil society projects in Medellín de Bravo and founded the neighborhood Gutiérrez Rosas, where he lived. In 2005, Sánchez founded La Unión ("The Union"), a weekly newspaper based in Medellín de Bravo. Originally, the outlet had a print version that catered to readers in the municipality of Medellín de Bravo, including those in the regions of Puente Moreno, Paso del Toro, El Tejar, and Medellín, the county seat. He and other citizens interested in informing their community distributed the newspaper themselves. However, lack of funds forced Sánchez to switch from his free print edition to an online-only edition.
Under his management, La Unión covered a variety of topics, though it was characterized for its critical and direct reporting style. Sánchez was known for publishing articles about organized crime violence stemming from drug trafficking, local political corruption, traffic accidents, community concerns, and government mismanagement. He was also active on his personal Facebook page, where he made posted about public works left incomplete by the local government, like street potholes and water leaks. Sánchez also worked as a photographer and reporter for media outlets in the Veracruz–Boca del Río metropolitan area. He did not receive money for his work as a media worker, however. Sánchez provided for his family by being a taxi driver and owning a small grocery store. He was a taxi driver for two reasons: Sánchez wanted to earn enough money to make a living for his family. But he was also wanted that job because it allowed him to talk with people from his hometown on a daily basis. This provided a venue for him to collect information about citizens' pleas for his publications. His colleagues described Sánchez as a dedicated news gatherer, despite the fact that he was self-taught and had no professional training in journalism. Because Medellín de Bravo is semi-rural and located outside of the Veracruz metropolitan area, many media outlets do not report what occurs in the region. Official journalists relied on his information to report what occurred in Medellín de Bravo. According to his son, Sánchez was kidnapped for his journalism, given that he reported on violence in Medellín de Bravo and had received death threats. He believed this because the kidnappers did not take any money or valuable belongings from the house, and went specifically for Sánchez and his belongings related to his profession as a reporter. Weeks prior to his kidnapping, Sánchez had written about the public security problems in Medellín de Bravo.
On December 13, 2014, he published a report on social media that a vegetable merchant from El Tejar had been assaulted and killed. This incident happened in his neighborhood. That night, the neighbors organized and armed themselves with sticks, machetes, and other sharp objects. They carried out night patrols to prevent any repeat of that incident, and planned to protest against the local government for the lack of public safety. Sánchez also reported on a shootout that left a father and son injured. Sánchez and his neighbors criticized National Action Party (PAN) politician Omar Cruz Reyes, the mayor of Medellín de Bravo, along with the local police, for their alleged apathy. Sánchez also commented on Cruz Reyes's supposed special unit of the Mexican Navy that protected him. Sánchez got together with his neighbors on December 17 and formed the self-defense group Comité de Autodefensas de la Colonia Gutiérrez Rosas as a reaction to the security problems in the municipality. Sánchez was a neighborhood committee leader responsible for organizing people. On December 27, a day after Cruz Reyes's annual press conference, Sánchez reported on his Facebook page of the discovery of two human corpses in Medellín de Bravo.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. More than 100 media workers have been kidnapped and/or killed since 2000, and most of the crimes against the press remain unsolved and with few perpetrators arrested. The state of Veracruz, in addition, is the most dangerous state in Mexico for journalists. At least fifteen journalists have been killed and four more remain disappeared since 2000 (at least ten of them were killed between 2010 and 2014). Many of the journalists killed in Veracruz wrote about organized crime and corruption. The most recent incident in Veracruz prior to Sánchez's abduction was the kidnapping and murder of Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz in February 2014. Sánchez was the first journalist kidnapped and killed in Mexico in 2015. On January 4, 2015, two days after his abduction, former Televisa reporter Jazmín Martínez Sánchez was killed in the State of Nayarit. A day later, another media worker was killed. Jesús Tapia Rodríguez, anchorman of Parras TV, was stabbed to death inside his home in Coahuila.
Kidnapping At around 7:30 p.m. (CST) on January 2, 2015, three vehicles arrived at the home of José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, located in the Gutiérrez Rosas neighborhood of Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz, Mexico. According to his neighbors, at least nine armed men wearing ski-masks descended from the vehicles and stormed the house asking for him. Sánchez was sleeping in his bedroom upstairs, while his wife was watching television with her grandchildren. They broke several doors inside the house and trashed some rooms before taking Sánchez's computer, camera, and cellphones. The gunmen then forced him into one of the vehicles. While this was happening, he asked his abductors to not hurt his family. The kidnappers then fled the scene to an unknown location. His son Jorge Sánchez Ordónez claimed that the neighbors contacted the local police soon after the abduction took place, but that their calls were not answered. They then called the federal military agency, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), which deployed agents throughout Medellín de Bravo. Sánchez's family claims that law enforcement authorities took several hours to arrive at the crime scene. Before midnight, Sánchez's family members went to offices of the Attorney General of Veracruz to formally issue a complaint for his disappearance. State authorities then carried out an investigative operation overnight in an attempt to locate him.
Reactions and protests The press freedom organization Article 19 condemned the attack and asked for the office of the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), Mexico's Attorney General Office, to take over the case. They also asked the Mexican government to provide protection for Sánchez's family and to guarantee the journalist's own life and safety. The New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the attack and asked for authorities to increase their efforts to locate Sánchez and arrest the kidnappers. CPJ researchers said in the report that Veracruz state authorities have, in past incidents, tried to dismiss the connection between journalists' profession and their murders. "Veracruz authorities have a history of denigrating the activities of local journalists and a miserable record of impunity in cases of crimes against journalists," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's representative for Latin America. The Inter American Press Association also expressed its concern over Sánchez's disappearance. It stated that it was concerned that attacks against the press in Mexico would continue in 2015. PEN International published a report asking for Mexican authorities to investigate Sánchez's kidnapping case along with Mario Alberto Crespo Ayón's, a TV reporter and former print journalist who was reported missing in Sinaloa in December 2014.
Protests were also carried out a few days after the abduction, in both the state of Veracruz and as well as nationwide, by journalists and others who demanded to know Sánchez's whereabouts. In Chilpancingo, Guerrero, journalists and photographers protested on Mexican Federal Highway 95 (also known as the "Autopista del Sol"). They started at 11 a.m. on January 4, 2015, and stayed there for about an hour. Some of the protesters held placards, while others handed out several fliers to drivers returning from Acapulco with information about Sánchez's kidnapping and about the risks of being a journalist in Mexico. After handing out all their fliers, the protesters left the highway. Protests were also carried out in three Guerrero cities, Acapulco, Chilpancingo, and Zihuatanejo. In Acapulco, reporters, media correspondents, and photographers from several media outlets met at La Diana roundabout. The protesters demanded Sánchez's safe return and criticized the government of Veracruz for failing to protect journalists. They also sent a message to Guerrero authorities for its own shortcomings in responding to local attacks on the press. In Tecoanapa, reporters from Chilpancingo, Acapulco, Tlapa, and the Costa Chica region gathered in protest as well.