3 Kidnapped Journalists Freed in Southern Mexico

Guerrero state, Mexico (highlighted)

Three journalists kidnapped in southern Mexico have been released, the attorney general's office in Guerrero state said Saturday.

Reporters Silvia Nayssa Arce, Alberto Sanchez and Marco Antonio Toledo were freed thanks to the "reinforcement of search operations and the deployment of state and federal authorities," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The office also confirmed the release of Toledo's wife, Guadalupe Denova, but said that the couple's son, who was kidnapped along with his parents, remains unaccounted for.

The Mexican army, police and national guard will "continue with search operations," according to the statement.

Toledo, editor of the El Espectador weekly, was kidnapped on November 19 in the city of Taxco.

Arce and Sanchez, reporters for digital media site RedSiete, were abducted Wednesday in the same city.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

On November 16, photojournalist Ismael Villagomez was shot and killed in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. Three people have been arrested over the killing.

At least five other journalists have been killed in Mexico in 2023, and more than 150 since 2000, according to RSF.