A 33-year-old journalist was murdered with 10 bullets in Paraguay

A radio journalist was shot dead on Tuesday in northern Paraguay in Pedro Juan Cavajero, a town on the border with Brazil whose mayor, who had fought against drug trafficking and local corruption, was also assassinated in May.

Umberto Andres Coronel Godoy, 33, was gunned down by one of two men on a motorcycle, very close to the Amambay radio station where he was about to submit his resignation, as he prepared to get out of his car, police said.

Ten bullet casings for a 9mm pistol were found at the crime scene.

Umberto Coronel had received threats against his life in June, which he reported to the police, the head of the crime prevention directorate of Amabay province, Neri Portillo, told the press.

“He complained that he had been told to shut up and stop investigating certain things,” according to the police officer. Mr. Portillo also assured that he had been offered police protection at the time, but the journalist refused.

The mayor of Pedro Juan Cavajero, Jose Carlos Acevedo, 51, was murdered on May 17 when strangers gassed him as he was leaving a city council meeting.

The elected official had taken a strong stand against the impunity of gangs in this city on the border with Brazil, opposite the Brazilian city of Ponta Pora. The road connecting the two cities is notorious for smuggling all sorts of things, including drugs.

Mayor Acevedo’s niece was murdered in 2021.

In the province of Amabay, of which “Pedrojuan,” as the locals call it, is the capital, the homicide rate in 2020 reached more than 70 per 100,000 inhabitants — in other words, ten times the national average.

RES-EMP

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