Jorge Torres Palacios

Jorge Torres Palacios was a Mexican journalist and government spokesman who was murdered in 2014. At the time of his death he was a columnist for the Acapulco newspaper El Dictamen and for other local news media, including the website Libertad Guerrero Noticias. He was also a spokesman for the Acapulco municipal health department.

In its report on the Torres murder, the Spanish daily El País noted that 32 journalists had been killed in Mexico during the preceding four years.

Early life and education He was born in Guerrero. He was a student from 1985 to 1988 at the School of Communication Sciences and Journalism of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

His father was Tomás Torres Abarca; his brother, Juan Torres Palacios, was a professor at Instituto Tecnológico de Acapulco; and his cousin Juan Torres Miranda was the agent of the Judicial Police assigned to Coyuca de Benítez. All three men were murdered in 2001, probably by a drug-cartel hit man.

Career During the administration of Governor René Juárez Cisneros (1999-2005), he was the nightly news anchorman on Guerrero Radio and Television, where he also served as head of information.

Torres was spokesman for Social Communication of the state government in Acapulco during the administration of Governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo (2005-2011). From this job, he moved on to a position as spokesman for the Acapulco municipal health department as the coordinator of Social Communication of the Municipal Health Directorate. He worked at this job for two years and was still doing so at the time of his death.

While holding these positions as government spokesperson, Torres continued to work as a journalist. He wrote a weekly column on politics and security, titled "Nothing Personal", for El Dictamen, an Acapulco newspaper. He also contributed to a local news website, Libertad Guerrero Noticias, as well as other local news media.

The Committee to Protect Journalists similarly noted that “Torres had written several columns critical of local officials shortly before his death.” For example, in his final column for El Dictamen, published shortly after his abduction, “Torres criticized the mayor of Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero state, accusing him of putting personal political ambition ahead of problems such as crime and corruption.” Earlier, in March, he had written in Libertad Guerrero Noticias that he “accused a state senator of putting gubernatorial plans ahead of congressional work.” In another March column for Libertad Guerrero Noticias, Torres “criticized the son of current Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre, who the journalist alleged wanted to run for mayor of Acapulco.”

Many of Torres's articles were so critical of the government that, because he was a government employee, he signed with an alias, “Serpico.”

A year after the murder of the three Torres family members, it was reported that “investigations remain stalled, impunity prevails, anxiety persists and there is distrust in the application of justice” because the ballistics testing and photos contributed as evidence to support investigation research on the event were lost, stated survivors of the shoot-out. Complaints were made about the “passivity of the authorities.” Fernando Torres Palacios complained “that there has been strong resistance within the State Attorney's and Attorney General's Office to clarify the facts and issue arrest warrants against those who participated in the slaughter.” Reporters Without Borders expressed mourning over the murder of Torres and called on the Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes against Freedom of Expression to open an investigation at once into the murder Torres and should not discount the possible relationship of the crime to Torres's professional activity.

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.

Motive 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.”

SEIDO involvement 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.

Personal life Torres and Martha Helguera had a son, Jorge.