With three bullets gunmen ended the life of an Ecuadorian journalist in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Thursday evening, April 11, reported the EFE news agency. Fausto Guido Valdiviezo Moscoso, 52 years old, was in a vehicle when witnesses reported that a group of hooded men shot him, added the agency.
Bystanders took the journalist to a hospital where he later died, apparently from the gunshots to his chest, reported to the newspaper El Comercio.
According to residents where the shooting took place, this was not the first attack on the reporter. The day before, Wednesday, gunmen attempted to kill him but he did not report it to the police, according to El Universo. Police who arrived to investigate the crime said they had found clues as to who the shooters were, added the newspaper.
Valdiviezo worked for 29 years as a television reporter and host, according to Ecuavisa's website. Recently, he was working as a consultant and was supposed to join Teleamazonas as a host for the program "Lo sabe, no lo sabe," reported El Universo.
Reporters Without Borders hoped for a quick resolution to the case and remembered that journalist Byron Baldeón was also killed in the same city last year, according to its website. Valdiviezo becomes the tenth journalist killed in the Americas so far this year, three of which RSF claims were related to their work as journalists.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
