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Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities in the north-central state of Zacatecas to do everything possible to locate Zoila Márquez Chiu, a journalist who has been missing since the afternoon of 7 December.
"We hope enough resources are deployed to find Márquez safe and sound as soon as possible," Reporters Without Borders said. "The authorities must respond to her family's appeal. There is so far no proof that she has been kidnapped but the police should investigate the possibility that her disappearance is linked to her work."
Márquez, who works for the Linea Informativa news website, was last seen when she set off by car to a videoclub in Zacatecas, the state capital. The last contact with her was at around 2 p.m. on 7 December. Her car has not been found and no one has claimed responsibility for abducting her or demanded a ransom.
Two other journalists have disappeared this year in Mexico. Sergio Landa Rosado of the Diario Cardel newspaper has been missing sine 22 January and Gerardo Blanquet of Radio Grande de Coahuila has been missing since 30 April
In all, 18 journalists have disappeared in the past decade in Mexico. There has been one other female victim – María Esther Aguilar Casimbe, a reporter for the newspaper Cambio in the southwestern state of Michoacán, who has been missing since 11 November 2009.
None of these disappearances has been solved although in some cases there have been indications that they were the work of corrupt police or military personnel.
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