Bodies of 2 slain journalists found in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – At least two news photographers were found slain in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz on Thursday, less than a week after the killing in the state of a reporter for an investigative newsmagazine, officials and colleagues said.

The state attorney general said that police found the dismembered bodies of four people on Thursday in Boca del Rio, near the port city of Veracruz.

One was identified as Guillermo Luna Varela, photographer for the news website www.veracruznews.com.mx. The other was identified as Gabriel Huge. The director of the website said Huge had been working as a photojournalist in the area. The other two victims were not identified.

The bodies were found five days after the discovery of the corpse of Regina Martinez, a correspondent for the national magazine Proceso.

Veracruznews director Martin Lara said Luna covered crime news for the Internet news agency and described him as a peaceful young man and "a good guy."

He said that last year Luna had been frightened so badly by threats that he left the state and stopped working for Veracruznews for two months. Lara declined to provide details.

He said Luna was last seen Wednesday afternoon.

Mexican journalists have suffered a rising number of attacks in recent years as the country grapples with waves of killings, kidnappings and extortion against the backdrop of a militarized government offensive against drug cartels.

In June 2011, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, a columnist and editorial director for the news agency Notiver, was shot to death in Veracruz along with his wife and one of his children. A month later, Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, a political reporter for Notiver, was found dismembered in the state.

Mexico is one of the world's most dangerous nations for journalists and Veracruz has been one of the states worst hit by drug-related violence, much related to a brutal war between the paramilitary drug cartel the Zetas and the New Generation, a cartel based in the western state of Jalisco and allied with the powerful Sinaloa cartel.