13 July 2005
JOURNALIST MURDERED
On 1 July 2005, José Cândido Amorim Pinto of Rádio Comunitária Alternativa was shot and killed by unidentified men in Carpina in Brazil's northeastern state of Pernambuco, noted Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).
Assailants on motorcycles shot Amorim Pinto 20 times as he parked his car outside the radio station. For the past 19 years, Amorim Pinto produced and presented an investigative programme on Rádio Comunitária Alternativa in which he covered corruption. The targets of his investigations included local mayor Mandel Botafogo and local parliamentarian Antonio Moraes.
Amorim Pinto also served on the municipal council in Carpina. He had proposed a by-law to stamp out nepotism, which was opposed by Botafogo.
Amorim Pinto survived a shooting on 21 May 2005 when two men opened fire on his car. He had also been receiving threats for the past six months.
According to a Committee to Protect Journalists report, Brazil remains a dangerous place for journalists, who are often targeted by corrupt politicians, criminals, and drug traffickers. In the last five years, four journalists in Brazil have been killed for their work. In most of these cases no one has been prosecuted.
Visit:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14324
- CPJ Report on Brazil: http://www.cpj.org/attacks04/americas04/brazil.html
- Inter American Press Association: http://www.sipiapa.org/pulications/report_brazil2005.cfm
- Organization of American States' Report: http://www.cidh.org/Relatoria/showarticle.asp?artID=412&lID=1
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