Severed Head, Threatening Note Found Outside Mexico Newspaper Office
Monday, June 09, 2008

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — A note threatening a Mexican journalist was found outside the office of a newspaper in southern Mexico on Monday, two days after someone left a severed head there.

Tabasco state Attorney General Gustavo Rosario said the letter was directed at Juan Padilla, editor of El Correo de Tabasco, which recently carried reports about migrant smuggling and kidnapping in the area.

"You are next," the note read.

The head of a man police identified as a low-level drug trafficker was found outside the offices on Saturday. Soldiers later located his body in another part of the city alongside a separate note that said, "This is what will happen to those who go around pointing fingers."

International media rights group Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Monday condemning the threats.

Media groups say Mexico is one of the world's most dangerous places to report, and journalists — especially those covering powerful drug cartels or official corruption — have been threatened, harassed, kidnapped and killed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364783,00.html