Paraguyan Journalist Killed

[Ultimate Paragon]

http://news.yahoo.com/slain-paraguayan-journalist-probing-drug-gang-184507895.html

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — A newspaper said Friday that a journalist who was shot to death was investigating drug gangs with suspected links to Paraguayan politicians.

Pablo Medina was killed Thursday in a crime-ridden northern area that is a hotbed for drugs and arms smuggling. He worked for the newspaper ABC Color and focused on investigations exposing corruption and drug traffickers.

ABC Color on Friday published on its front page the names of suspects in the crime, all of them residents of the northern town of Ypehu, including one with an elected post in the municipality. Several calls were made to the municipal offices seeking comment on the allegation, but no one answered.

President Horacio Cartes on Friday lamented the killing and said the investigation will not be influenced by any political party. "Today, I feel like we've all been killed," he told reporters.

At the opening of the 70th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association in Santiago, Chile, the organization condemned the killing and called on Paraguay's government "to conduct a speedy and exhaustive investigation to determine the motives of the crime and punish those responsible."

The IAPA said Medina was returning after doing some reporting "when he was intercepted and attacked by two men wearing camouflage who shot him at close range several times."

Medina's assistant, Antonia Almada, 19, also was killed, while another woman, identified as a local peasant leader, escaped uninjured. Medina was 53, rather than 48 as reported initially in stories about his slaying.

"The murder of Medina and that of 10 other journalists in the Americas since April this year reminds us of the importance of strongly raising our voices to demand justice in such crimes and call for guarantees for the safety and protection of members of the press while covering the news," said Claudio Paolillo, the chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.

What a tragedy.   

[Barbarella]

http://news.yahoo.com/slain-paraguayan-journalist-probing-drug-gang-184507895.html

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — A newspaper said Friday that a journalist who was shot to death was investigating drug gangs with suspected links to Paraguayan politicians.

Pablo Medina was killed Thursday in a crime-ridden northern area that is a hotbed for drugs and arms smuggling. He worked for the newspaper ABC Color and focused on investigations exposing corruption and drug traffickers.

ABC Color on Friday published on its front page the names of suspects in the crime, all of them residents of the northern town of Ypehu, including one with an elected post in the municipality. Several calls were made to the municipal offices seeking comment on the allegation, but no one answered.

President Horacio Cartes on Friday lamented the killing and said the investigation will not be influenced by any political party. "Today, I feel like we've all been killed," he told reporters.

At the opening of the 70th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association in Santiago, Chile, the organization condemned the killing and called on Paraguay's government "to conduct a speedy and exhaustive investigation to determine the motives of the crime and punish those responsible."

The IAPA said Medina was returning after doing some reporting "when he was intercepted and attacked by two men wearing camouflage who shot him at close range several times."

Medina's assistant, Antonia Almada, 19, also was killed, while another woman, identified as a local peasant leader, escaped uninjured. Medina was 53, rather than 48 as reported initially in stories about his slaying.

"The murder of Medina and that of 10 other journalists in the Americas since April this year reminds us of the importance of strongly raising our voices to demand justice in such crimes and call for guarantees for the safety and protection of members of the press while covering the news," said Claudio Paolillo, the chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.

What a tragedy.   

Indeed. *sigh*

We need to legalize drugs, put a big dent in these South American & Mexican cartels.

May Deity embrace this gentleman.

[Ultimate Paragon]

I think we should at least legalize marijuana.

[Barbarella]

I think we should at least legalize marijuana.

Me, too. Don't legalize everything, just the more natural stuff that won't hardcore wreck ya.

Perhaps, do more research into I-Dosing technology or make "Legal Highs" more mainstream & better regulated.

[Old Viking]

I do not make light of the deaths, but drug-related murders in Central or South America are ten cents a dozen.  Hell, even the raggedy-ass street peddlers will kill you if you miss a payment.  As you go higher in the distribution chain the death count soars.  In Mexico the cartels behead and dismember each other, and anyone else they get their hands on (just to stay in practice, I guess).  Investigative reporting is Russian Roulette with five chambers loaded.  Would that it were otherwise.  But it's not.