Guatemalan Daily Journo Murdered After Threats

[Judi Lynn]

Guatemalan Daily Journo Murdered After Threats

By Mark Fitzgerald

Published: May 13, 2008 10:48 AM ET

CHICAGO 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.

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