THREE journalists kidnapped in southern Mexico have been released, the attorney-general’s office in Guerrero state said yesterday.

Reporters Silvia Nayssa Arce, Alberto Sanchez and Marco Antonio Toledo were freed thanks to the “reinforcement of search operations and the deployment of state and federal authorities”, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The office also confirmed the release of Toledo’s wife, Guadalupe Denova, but said the couple’s son, who was kidnapped along with his parents, remains unaccounted for.

The Mexican army, police and national guard would “continue with search operations”, the statement said.

Toledo, editor of the El Espectador weekly, was kidnapped on November 19 in the city of Taxco.

Arce and Sanchez, reporters for digital media site RedSiete, were abducted on Wednesday in the same city.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practise journalism, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

On November 16, photojournalist Ismael Villagomez was shot dead in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. Three people were arrested over the killing.

At least five other journalists have been killed in Mexico this year, and more than 150 since 2000, RSF said. – AFP, November 26, 2023.