By MARK LORENZANA

Mexican journalist Jorge Luis Chew Cervantes posted on his official Facebook account that he is safe and sound, after being reported missing since Friday, Sept. 30, in the municipality of Taxco de Alarcón, in the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero.

“Given the news of my disappearance, I want to inform my friends and followers who are worried about me that I am now home. I appreciate the support of Governor Evelin Salgado Pineda, the Prosecutor’s Office, the state police, the National Guard, the Mexican Army, the Municipal Public Security, as well as the Mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, and his wife for the support,” said Chew Cervantes in a Facebook post on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 2. ”We will continue to work to keep citizens informed. For the time being, thank you very much for your support.”

According to a police report, at around 8 p.m. on Friday, Chew Cervantes went to cover an alleged armed confrontation between police and armed men, and since then he had not been reachable on his phone or his social media accounts.

Both the Guerrero State Attorney General’s Office (FGEG) and the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) of Guerrero reported that they called for a search in the municipalities of Taxco and Pilcaya to locate the reporter.

Chew Cervantes covers the police beat for the Taxco weekly newspaper La Hoja de Doble Filo.

Mexico remains a dangerous place for reporters, and has one of the highest murder rates of journalists worldwide, second only to Ukraine, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). On Aug. 27 of this year, the lifeless body of Sinaloa broadcast commentator Cándida Cristal Vázquez, 34, was found in a ditch on the outskirts of the coastal resort of Mazatlán. She was the 16th journalist killed in the country this year.