3 journalists have been kidnapped in southern Mexico

Press freedom groups say they learned this week that at least three journalists were kidnapped in southern Mexico in late December.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says Jesús Pintor, Fernando Moreno and Alan García were abducted in the state of Guerrero on Dec. 27. All three work at local news outlets in an area known for violence and insecurity.

Two of the journalists — Moreno and Garcia — appeared in a video posted to their news outlet’s Facebook page. They are chained at the hands and feet, and say they were “paying the consequences” for their publications about certain people in the so called Tierra Caliente in the states of Mexico, Michoacán and Guerrero.

The human rights commission in Guerrero acknowledged the disappearances this week and has called on authorities to investigate and find the three journalists alive.

Last year is considered the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico, and the country topped the list worldwide for reporters killed because of their work.