Arrest in case of slain Mexican journalist

Using fingerprint information, police have arrested a suspect in the death of news photographer Ruben Espinosa in a a gory five-victim homicide thought to have taken place Friday morning or afternoon.

"Investigating officers have located him and he is making a statement to their office about his possible involvement in this crime," state prosecutor Rodolfo Rios Garza said Wednesday.

Authorities have released footage that appears to show three men near the building where the killings took place, before they departed in a Ford Mustang. The suspect and his accomplices may have killed the five people for any number of reasons, including robbery.

Officials have said that the attackers may not have been targeting the journalist or a rights activist who was also killed, but a woman from Colombia who was also found dead. The prosecutors have a 48-hour period, extendable once, within which to decide whether to charge the man currently being held.

Espinosa had worked for the newspaper "Proceso," which has criticized Mexico's government. He also worked for other local agencies and covered social protests.

The photographer had recently fled to Mexico City, his hometown, after an attack in the coastal state of Veracruz, which has seen 13 journalists killed since Governor Javier Duarte took office in 2010. Others have disappeared, and many accuse Duarte of stirring up anti-press sentiment.

No escape

Espinosa's murder unleashed a wave of outrage and highlighted the often dangerous situation for journalists in Mexico. At least a dozen journalists from around the country have taken shelter in Mexico City because they fear for their safety in a nation where, according to Reporters Without Borders, 88 of their colleagues have died violently in the past 15 years.

The five bodies also included that of human rights activist Nadia Vera. She had criticized the Duarte government and frequently organized protest marches, including one against the 2012 election of President Enrique Pena Nieto and others calling for an end to attacks on journalists.

"We hold Governor Javier Duarte Ochoa and all of his Cabinet responsible for anything that might happen to us, those involved in organizing these types of movements," Vera said in an interview months before her death.

mkg/cmk (EFE, AFP, dpa, AP)