Friends and relatives bid farewell to slain journalist in Mexico

"Father, you will be with me forever. You did not go. I feel that you are here," said José Adrián Tamayo, son of reporter Pedro Tamayo, who was slain Wednesday night in Tierra Blanca, his homeland.

The wife and two children of the journalist are presiding his funeral in midtown Tierra Blanca, a city which has been immersed in violence for the last few months.

José Adrían is the owner of the "La Jardinera" restaurant, where four hitmen arrived and killed his father. The young man was so angry that he pursued the killers, but his car was intercepted by the state police before he was able to ram their vehicle.

Tamayo is remembered as a reliable friend and journalist, always making jokes to his friends and colleagues.

He is survived by his wife Alicia Blanco, two children, his mother and four siblings.

The state prosecutor's office did not give a possible motive for the killing, and it was not immediately clear if 43-year-old Tamayo was targeted due to his work.

The newspaper he worked for, El Piñero de la Cuenca, published an editorial saying Tamayo "documented the acts of violence and social protest in his hometown" and had also reported extensively on crime.

"On many occasions, he was intimidated by the forces of official power," it said. "And his stories, the majority of which were about violence, made some uncomfortable."

He had left Veracruz for a time when he felt threatened while investigating the case of five young people who disappeared in the state.

Tierra Blanca is a notoriously violent corner of Veracruz. The Jalisco New Generation gang, one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, is blamed for kidnapping and killing five young people who disappeared there Jan. 11.

At least 17 journalists have been murdered in Veracruz since late 2010, and others have disappeared.

All those killings have occurred during the administration of Gov. Javier Duarte, who has at times sought to blame journalists for the violence and suggested some had ties to the drug cartels that frequently fight turf battles in the state.