 “They must send a clear message to criminals that using violence to intimidate and kill journalists so as to silence informed debate within civil society will not be tolerated.”

The members of the 1985-88 class of the School of Communication Sciences and Journalism of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), expressed “outrage” at the kidnapping and murder of Torres, their classmate.According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “some local journalists...did not think Torres' murder was in relation to his work,” while “other local journalists criticized official statements and press releases in which, they said, authorities referred only to Torres' government position and did not acknowledge his work as a journalist.”

On June 7, the case was officially turned over to SEIDO, the organized crime division of the federal Attorney General's office, because state investigators had reportedly received threats from organized crime figures that warned them not to dig too deep into the case.The Guerrero state attorney general stated that authorities were investigating a possible organized-crime link.