TV director kidnapped in Michoacán

Journalist Salvador Adame Pardo is reportedly the owner and director of the local channel 6TV. He was kidnapped last Thursday in a family-run water purification business in the municipality of Múgica in Nueva Italia, Michoacán.

Franco Urtiz Martínez, brother-in-law and tv producer of 6TV, said that a group of heavily armed hooded unknown assailants took him in and escaped in a black Ford Lobo with State of Mexico license plates.

"He had actually taken a break from the media because he was exhausted, as well as being concerned with the environment of the place. He would write some news and send it to the channel from time to time.", said Urtiz Martínez.

He added that his brother-in-law had some differences with the municipal government of Múgica run by Salvador Ruíz Ruíz from the National Revolutionary Party (PRD), "He did have some differences with the municipal president, nothing more. Salvador is very straightforward when it comes to his journalistic work, he reveals information as it is, without any political bias; he is a very blunt person."

Adame Pardo's kidnapping comes after last Wednesday president Peña Nieto vowed to protect Mexican journalists from violence and impunity.

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) expressed concern for Adame Pardo's kidnapping and demanded authorities to act with due diligence in the investigation process to preserve Adame Pardo's physical well-being.

For its part, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) is urging authorities to locate Adame Pardo, amid a wave of media slayings in recent weeks.

Adame Pardo works in a violence-plagued region known as the "Tierra Caliente" or "Hot Land."

In a statement Friday, the CNDH also called on Michoacán officials to protect Adame's family and his co-workers at 6TV.

Only last Monday prominent journalist Javier Valdez was murdered in the northern city of Culiacán, Sinaloa state. He is one of six journalists to be killed in Mexico since early March.

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