Honduran video journalist shot to death in Mexico

XALAPA, Mexico (AP) — Authorities in the Mexican state of Veracruz said Monday that they were investigating the killing of a Honduran video journalist who had sought refugee status in Mexico.

In a statement, the state prosecutor's office said Edwin Rivera Paz was shot to death Sunday in the town of Acayucan. It said the body was identified by a relative.

Raul Otoniel Morazan, Honduras' consul general in Veracruz, called in an interview with local media outlet e-veracruz.com for all levels of the Mexican government to get to the bottom of the killing. A request for comment from the Honduran Embassy in Mexico City was not immediately answered.

Marta Sanchez Soler, coordinator of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, a nonprofit group supporting migrants travelling through the region, said in a statement that Rivera fled Honduras after his colleague Igor Padilla was killed.

Padilla was shot in January by four men in police uniforms in the northern Honduras city of San Pedro Sula. Padilla had covered crime and also hosted a humorous television show, and Rivera was his cameraman.

It was not immediately clear how long Rivera had been in Acayucan. The town lies on a heavily used route for Central Americans fleeing violence. The migrants are preyed on by organized crime groups and Veracruz is one of Mexico's most violent states.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP Block: Veracruz state police man a standing roadblock on a highway leaving Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Despite President Enrique Pena Nieto's promises of a safer nation when he came to power five years ago, the violence is outpacing even the darkest days of...