Editor & Publisher, May 13, 2008
By Mark Fitzgerald

Prensa Libre, the national Guatemalan daily, reported Tuesday authorities are pursuing at least two possibilities in the shooting death of its correspondent Jorge Merida Perez -- whom the paper claims was targeted for his reporting.

Several of Merida's relatives say he had received death threats in the days before the correspondent for Quetzaltenango province was shot to death Saturday afternoon, Prensa Libre reported in a story by Myrna Toc.

Merida, 40, was shot four times in the head while working at his computer in his home in Coatepeque, about 130 miles southwest of Guatemala City, according to press reports and interviews by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). A 14-year-old son was in the house, but was not attacked.

Prensa Libre Editor Gonzalo Marroquin, who is also chairman of the committee on free expression for the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) demanded an investigation of the murder by the national prosecutor's office for crimes against journalists.

Miguel Angel Mendez, Prensa Libre's deputy director, told CPJ Merida had reported recently on local drug trafficking and government
Corruption, and told him of the death threats.

Presnsa Libre Tuesday quoted Carlos Orellana Franco, a district police chief, as saying while there is no concrete evidence about motive yet,, it is clear the killing was not random.

"It's terrible this happened," he said. "It could be that Jorge Merida's journalistic work upset some group."

But another law enforcement official, Cristobal Chales, told the paper that his group believes the killing was either personal revenge or the result of a gang conflict.

Prensa Libre reported that residents in Merida's El Rosario neighborhood "tight-lipped," and refusing to cooperate with the police investigation.

"It is sickening that a journalist can be killed in this matter," Carlos Lauria, CPJ's senior Americas program coordinator, said in a stamen. "The gunman clearly had no fear; responsibility falls on the Guatemalan government to solve this crime and produce assurances that journalists cannot be murdered with impunity."

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