Notepads, Guns, and Cocaine: The Isolated Life of a Paraguayan Journalist

Notepads, Guns, and Cocaine: The Isolated Life of a Paraguayan Journalist

December 8, 2015
By Dorian Geiger

Journalist Cándido Figueredo Ruíz woke in a panic, windows shattering all around him. Automatic weapons fire was raining down on his house. The bedroom of his Paraguay home was riddled in lead. One bullet struck his bed, centimeters from where he'd been sleeping moments earlier.

It was about 3 AM.

"I threw myself under the bed and I prayed to all the saints," the seasoned reporter said in an interview with VICE on a recent visit to New York. "It looked like that shooting would never stop. I was terrified."

When it was all over, Figueredo was unscathed by the rapid fire drive-by even though 35 bullets had punctured his home. This was the mid 1990s, the first time Paraguay's drug lords tried to murder Figueredo for stories he published about them. The man's work paints a chilling portrait of organized crime and political corruption in Paraguay, offering a glimpse into the perils and consequences of documenting South American drug lords.

Figueredo was born and raised in Pedro Juan Caballero, a small city near the Brazilian border, where he's still based. In 2003, the journalist discovered traffickers were purchasing funeral homes for the purpose of concealing and transporting cocaine in corpses. His investigation forced police to take notice. The smugglers lost thousands, perhaps millions.

More:
http://www.vice.com/read/notepads-guns-and-cocaine-the-isolated-life-of-a-paraguayan-journalist