Ayotzinapa Activist Found Dead

Mexican security officials revealed Saturday that Miguel Angel Jimenez Blanco, an activist who was involved in the search for the 43 forcibly disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa teachers' training college, was found dead in a rural area of the state of Guerrero.

Jimenez was a founder of the Citizens Security System of the Union of Peoples and Organization from the State of Guerrero. He had been delegated to work with relatives and supporters of the missing students shortly after they were first reported missing.

Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that David Cienfuegos Salgado, interior minister for the state of Guerrero, confirmed that the body of Jimenez had been found but did not provide any additional details regarding the death.

The body of Jimenez was found in the driver's seat of a taxi. Residents told local media that he had been ambushed while driving to his home in the municipality of Xaltianguis.

The ability of the Mexican state to provide security in the country has come under scrutiny as the on-going armed conflict between the state and rival organized crime organizations continues to claim victims.

The safety and security of activists and journalists is also increasingly questioned in light of the murder of journalists Ruben Espinoza, Nadia Vera, and 3 others in their apartment in Mexico City earlier this month.

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​The photojournalist, who was working for Mexican investigative magazine Proceso, had recently fled the southwestern state of Veracruz, claiming the government was threatening him. Veracruz one of the two most deadly Mexican states to be a journalist, along with Chihuahua, which lies on the border with the United States.