MIAMI, Florida (December 29, 2014)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed outrage at a hand-grenade attack on a newspaper in Venezuela and the murder of a journalist in Brazil and called on the authorities of the two countries to act urgently to identify those responsible for these acts of violence and bring them to justice.
In Venezuela two fragmentary grenades were hurled at the building of the newspaper El Siglo in the city of Maracay, Aragua state. The attack, which occurred early yesterday (December 28) morning, resulted in no injuries but caused damage to the security booth and three vehicles struck by the shock wave, the newspaper reported on its Web site.
Two assailants, captured on video by the security cameras, hurled two explosive artifacts at the newspaper’s building, only one of which exploded. The reason for the attack was not immediately known and no group has claimed responsibility for it.
IAPA President Gustavo Mohme expressed his repudiation of the act of intimidation against El Siglo. Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, urged the Venezuelan authorities “to urgently investigate so as to determine who was responsible and apply the full force of the law on them.”
Meanwhile, in Brazil the IAPA condemned the murder of Marcos de Barros Leopoldo Guerra, a journalist who in his blog titled Ubatuba Cobra, denounced alleged corruption by local officials in Ubatuba city, São Paulo.
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, decried the murder, the fourth in Brazil this year. Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, declared that “a swift investigation to determine whether the motives for the murder were linked to the victim’s work as a journalist and bringing those responsible to justice are the surest means for protecting journalists and combating impunity.”
Guerra, 51, was killed on December 23 by assailants riding a motorcycle who shot him through a window at his home. Guerra, who was also a lawyer, died on the spot after being struck in the face, back and stomach, the local press reported.
He had received threats for what he had written and his denunciations of alleged embezzlement of public funds.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
