Another victim of Mexico's quagmire of corruption

AP/Houston Chronicle:

A newspaper editor who recently had run stories about organized crime and city government corruption was found dead Friday in a hotel room in this Pacific resort city (Zihuatanejo). An acquaintance who was with him the last time he was seen alive remained missing.

Misael Tamayo Hernandez, editor of "El Despertar de la Costa," was found nearly naked, with his hands tied behind his back, in a room of the Venus Motel on a highway, Zihuatanejo police officials said.

He was lying on a bed, covered only with a sheet, and investigators found three puncture marks on his body, one in his right hand and two others in a forearm. The cause of death was a heart attack, forensic investigators said.

Authorities did not know the whereabouts of a businessman who left the newspaper with Tamayo Hernandez to have breakfast Thursday morning.

Tamayo Hernandez, who was well-respected in the local journalistic community, had published a story on Thursday alleging that city officials had given illegal discounts on water services to individuals and businesses. Thursday's edition also contained stories on organized crime.

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Numerous journalists have been attacked or killed in recent years in Mexico, presumably as revenge for unfavorable reports on criminals, including drug traffickers and corrupt government officials.

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I have been to Zihuatanejo and thought it to be a pretty typical Mexican city. The Mexican government has built several resorts on the beaches near the city, but it has never drawn the kind of tourist traffic of Cancun or other major Mexican resorts.

What seems clear is that the rule of law has broken down in many parts of Mexico and that reporters and editors are out gunned in the fight to get it reestablished. Intimidation and murder have become commonplace from Nueva Laredo in the east to the Pacific coast in the west. It is not surprising that many Mexicans would want to leave and come to the US.