Pedro Canché

Pedro Canché is a Mexican journalist who spent nine months in prison in 2014–15 in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a town in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, for criticizing the state’s governor.

Career Canché was born on May 18, 1970. He grew up in the town of Boca Paila, where he taught himself to read and became interested in photography. At age nineteen he was working as a hot-dog vendor. He began to write articles and take pictures that he sent to the newspaper Novedades in Cancún. Among the subjects he covered were littering, potholes, and police taking bribes. When the newspaper began paying him for his contributions, he became a full-time journalist.

He works as a journalist in the city of Felipe Carrillo Puerto in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Arrest and detention Canché was arrested in Felipe Carrillo Puerto on August 30, 2014, for allegedly sabotaging the local water supply. A few days prior to his arrest, he had published photos of local protests against increases in water tariffs and a video in which he criticized Quintana Roo’s governor, Roberto Borge. From the time of his arrest, a free-speech NGO called Article 19 began defending Canché. The group also accused Borge of ordering acts of harassment and aggression against Canché and his family.

He later said that a few days before his arrest, he had been warned by a journalist friend to “take refuge in some embassy” because “Borge is against you.”

On May 18, 2015, he celebrated his 45th birthday in prison. Four days later, a protest was held at the Monument to Free Expression in Cancún calling for the immediate release of Canché.

Personal life He has two children, a boy and a girl, who live with their mother in Cancún.