One of Mexico’s most outspoken advocates for migrants rights has announced he will temporarily leave the country due to repeated death threats. The news of Father Alejandro Solalinde’s plans came as a heavy blow to the morale of Mexico’s community of human rights activists.

For years, the outspoken priest has operated a shelter in Oaxaca, Mexico for mostly Central American migrants on their way north. He’s witnessed an increase in the dangers associated with the trek as organized crime has taken over immigrant smuggling routes and has spoken candidly about corrupt officials who have allowed criminals to develop a presence in the area.

(audio: Alejandro Solalinde speaks in press conference, reporter interprets)

In a Mexico City press conference, Father Solalinde told reporters that the decision to leave the country temporarily came as a result of orders from his superiors in the church as well as from a series of recent death threats. He characterized the situation in Oaxaca as a state of impunity in which criminals and corrupt officials are working together to leave migrants as unprotected as possible.

Father Solalinde’s shelter is located along a key route used by migrants who move via Mexico’s freight train network. He has documented and publicized cases of mass kidnappings of migrants and has worked closely with Central American organizations formed by relatives of persons who have gone missing while crossing Mexican territory.

Father Solalinde says he will use his time abroad to speak publicly about the dangers faced by migrants in Mexico.

[Transcript of headline produced for May 17, 2012 morning broadcast of CBC News "World Report"]

At least 23 bodies have been left in key locations in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. The badly beaten cadavers of 5 men and 4 women were left hanging from an overpass early this morning along with a large banner accusing them of ties to a car bomb that exploded there last week.

By mid-day social media users were reporting another 14 bodies had been left inside of a vehicle near the Association of Customs Agents and three coolers containing human heads had been discovered near city hall. Last month, a minivan containing 14 dismembered bodies in plastic bags were left in front of Nuevo Laredo’s city hall.

Journalists march in Mexico City to protest killings

Journalists are marching today in Mexico City to demand the government take action to investigate and punish crimes against media workers. Today’s protest comes on the heels of a multi-homicide in Veracruz.

The remains of two photojournalists, a former cameraman, and a newspaper administrative worker were found yesterday – World Press Freedom Day – tortured, dismembered and dumped in plastic trash bags in a canal in Veracruz. Relatives of the two photojournalists, Guillermo Luna Varela and Gabriel Huge, reported the two as missing Wednesday afternoon.

The third man, Esteban Rodríguez, worked as a crime photographer for 5 years but left the profession in August of 2011 after the murder of two of key staffers of the regional Notiver newspaper. All three had expressed serious concerns for their personal safety in 2011.

The fourth victim was Irasema Becerra, who worked in the sales department at another local paper, El Dictamen, and was the girlfriend of one of the other victims.

The sadistic quadruple homicide came just five days after investigative journalist Regina Martinez was beaten and strangled to death in her home in the state capital of Veracruz.

Major gun battles have been taking place throughout Mexico’s northeastern region over the past two weeks.  Another eruption of violence last night prompted the closure of border crossings into the US.

Shootouts erupted in Saltillo, the capital of the border state of Coahuila, at around 8:40 this morning. Via its Twitter account, the state prosecutor’s office urged citizens to stay inside and avoid certain areas of the city.

The shootouts in Saltillo came after an unusually violent night in the border city of Piedras Negras. Gunfights and blockades there prompted US authorities to close both bridges that connect the city to Eagle Pass, Texas. It’s the first time the Eagle Pass bridges have been shut down in response to drug war-related violence in its sister city.

According to Coahuila state authorities, last night’s shootouts in Piedras Negras began around 6:20pm when an armed group ambushed members of a special police unit recently deployed to the city. A female officer died in the attack. While vehicles, weapons and ammunition were confiscated, an official press release made no mention of arrests.

Recent street battles have been particularly violent and public, characterized by the use of automatic weapons and grenades. The hardest hit are areas dominated by the Zeta cartel.

[This report is a transcript of a headline produced for the March 7, 2012 broadcast of FSRN]

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Time limitations and deadline prevented the mention of other notable events of March 7, 2012 in the radio report above.

There was a brief exchange of gunfire in Reynosa, a report of a targeted attack against the police chief of Apodaca, multiple grenade attacks in Rio Bravo and deadly shootouts Miguel Aleman and the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero. A baby injured in Sunday’s attack in the Nuevo Laredo Walmart was confirmed to have died. Also, a mass grave said to contain 15 bodies was discovered in Juárez, Nuevo León.

Major gunfights erupted in two cities in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas Sunday night. This amateur video uploaded to YouTube gives an idea of the intensity of the battle in the streets of Ciudad Victoria around 10:30pm last night.

Shortly before the firefight in Ciudad Victoria, social media users in Nuevo Laredo were sending out alerts about a shootout at the local Walmart. Families and workers were trapped and taking cover in the store’s warehouse. Twitter reports indicated some bystanders were wounded in the attack.

None of this, however, appears in the state’s traditional media outlets. Tamaulipas has a reputation as Mexico’s most censored state. Local journalists usually remain silent when it comes to issues of drug war violence and government corruption. The bulk of information about the violence on the ground comes via social media posts, some of which can be hard to corroborate.

The Tamaulipas press isn’t alone in it’s silence regarding seemingly major events in the region. A Monday morning scan of the news showed zero coverage in the U.S. press of the incidents in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of a state which shares a border with Texas. The only mention of the shootout at the Nuevo Laredo Walmart was a brief anchor read at the top of a local Laredo television newscast. Laredo is located directly across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, meaning at least some of the firefights occur within earshot of residents on the Texas side of the border.

Sunday’s shootouts followed a military announcement regarding the death of the Zeta boss of Nuevo Laredo. The leader of the border city’s dominant organized crime group was killed along with 12 other unidentified persons last Thursday in daylight shootouts which lasted hours and spanned from the border city’s downtown area to one of its international bridges. Like Sunday’s incidents, it was not reported by local media.

A human rights activist in Ciudad Juarez is recovering from what she says was attempted murder but what authorities describe as robbery gone wrong.

Norma Andrade co-founded the group May Our Daughters Return Home after her own daughter was killed in a long-running string of brutal rape-murders in Ciudad Juárez. Andrade was shot five times the afternoon of Friday, December 2nd as she left her home to go to work.

Investigators call it a botched carjacking. Andrade, who survived the shooting and was hospitalized, says the attacker said nothing before walking up to her and discharging his firearm. She was discharged from the hospital to a location with 24-hour security on Tuesday, December 6th.

Another of Andrade’s daughters, active in May Our Daughters Return Home, left Ciudad Juarez earlier this year after arsonists set fire to her house. The other co-founder of the organization, Marisela Ortiz, fled the troubled border city after receiving direct threats via a “narco-banner” hung outside of the school where she worked.

May Our Daughters Return Home assists femicide victims’ families and has also recently been investigating sex trafficking cases.