Brazilian Journalist Murdered

Speaking of violence against journalists in Latin America

A veteran reporter who had often received death threats for his reports on crime was gunned down in front of his house in northeastern Brazil, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Francisco Gomes de Medeiros died instantly when he was shot five times on Monday in the city of Caico, said Augusto Bezerra, spokesman for the public safety department of Rio Grande do Norte state.

Bezerra said by telephone that police have arrested a former inmate, Joao Francisco dos Santos, who confessed he killed Medeiros because he felt that coverage of a robbery he committed in 2007 convinced the judge to sentence him 18 months in jail instead of the seven months he expected.

Bezerra said police also are investigating whether the murder could be linked to Medeiros' reports that candidates for the state assembly traded cocaine for votes in the Oct. 3 elections.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 20 Brazilian journalists were murdered between 1994 and 2009.






.