Amnesty International is also calling on the authorities to take immediate steps to guarantee his safety. The human rights organisation is urging an immediate, full and impartial investigation into the threats against him and for the results of the investigation to be made public.

The threats followed publication of an article in El Manana de Nuevo Laredo newspaper on 30 October, in which Francisco Castellanos, correspondent for Proceso magazine, made allegations of corruption against a former attorney general of Michoacán and several members of the state ministerial police.

Mexican journalists often face attacks and death threats because of their work, and many live in fear of reprisals from people or organisations they have written about. The authorities rarely investigate these cases effectively, leaving the perpetrators to repeat their crimes.

Amnesty International is calling on the government to implement the recommendation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of September 1988 that the Mexican authorities 'adopt the necessary measures to punish the perpetrators of crimes committed against persons exercising the right to freedom of expression, including a speedy, effective and impartial investigation into complaints of harassment involving journalists.'