Three journalists have been missing since December 27 in Mexico in one of the 32 federated states most affected by violence, defenders of human rights and freedom of expression denounced on Wednesday.
All three worked for an information portal in the state of Guerrero (southwest), where violence has also affected its tourist capital Acapulco in recent days.
Two of them appeared chained in a video posted on the Internet.
One of them claims that they are paying "the consequences" of their publications.
"We don't know when the video was actually recorded," Balbina Flores, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) representative in Mexico, told AFP.
More than 150 journalists murdered
RSF was able to confirm that the journalists disappeared “in a very difficult, very complex area, almost 100% controlled by the “Familia Michoacana”, a local criminal group.
RSF and two other groups asked the authorities "to investigate and coordinate to find the journalists immediately".
More than 150 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, according to RSF's tally.
Crimes that have gone mostly unpunished.
A police official was murdered on Tuesday in Acapulco, where human remains have also been found in recent days.
World
Press freedom: Nearly 1,700 journalists have been killed worldwide since 2003, according to RSF
World
Freedom of the press: More than 500 journalists imprisoned worldwide
World
RSF
Mexico
Journalist