By Isabela Fraga
The building housing the newspaper El Regional, in Venezuela, was fired upon in the morning of Thursday, Nov. 1, reported El Universal. The newspaper El Nacional added that the office of PDVSA, the state oil company, was also attacked at the same time. No one was injured.
The motivation behind the attack is still unknown but El Regional's information chief, Yui Peña, said it is possible that shooter was a hired killer, reported Globovisión. In a statement, El Regional explained that one of the bullets hit the glass of the building's security booth and that police were investigating the crime.
Nikary González, secretary general of the National Journalists Union of Venezuela, stated his concern over the number of media outlets attacked in 2012, now at four, reported the newspaper Notitarde. González said it was still too early to say the attack was motivated by the newspapers' editorial stance but noted that the attacks took place at the start of regional election campaigning in the South American country.
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.
