Three journalists killed in one week in Guatemala

Three journalists killed in one week in Guatemala
Thursday, 19 March 2015, 5:31 pm

Journalists Danilo López and Federico Salazar, correspondents for Prensa Libre and Radio Nuevo Mundo, in Mazatenago, Suchitepéquez (167 km southwest of the capital city) were killed on 10 March 2015 by two people on a motorcycle in the city's central park.

López and Salazar died at the scene, while another reporter who was with them, Marvin Túnchez, of the local Canal 30, was injured. López had received intimidating messages from Suchitepéquez authorities who were reacting to critical articles he had written. Later on the day of their deaths, the National Civil Police detained a suspect, who is said to have been driving the vehicle used in the attack.

On 13 March, just three days after López and Salazar were killed, a third journalist, Guido Armando Giovanni Villatoro, was murdered. Villatoro, who worked for Servicable, was attacked when he was leaving the station he worked at in Chicacao, also located in Suchitepéquez. Two people on a motorcycle, an adult and a minor, shot him.

Authorities believe that his murder is related to extortion that the cable company was subject to. Hours before the attack, someone, who is believed to have been planning to pick up a package of money from Servicable, was detained.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1503/S00215/three-journalists-killed-in-one-week-in-guatemala.htm