After a six-week investigation, Venezuelan police have concluded that journalist Wilfred Ojeda was killed in revenge over a debt and had nothing to do with his journalistic work, reported ACN.
He allegedly was killed by two brothers settling a debt, according to the web page of the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Body (CICPC in Spanish) of Venezuela.
Ojeda, 56, a journalist and columnist for the newspaper El Clarín de La Victoria, was killed May 16 after being shot in the head. His body was found the next day, with a hood over his head, in the city of Revenga, in the state of Aragua, in northern Venezuela.
"Revenge was hte motive for the killing," said CICPC, reported El Nacional.
In his column "Critical Dimension" in the newspaper El Clarín, Ojeda frequently questioned the actions of local authorities. The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States in May requested the Venezuelan authorities to not rule out the possibility that the murder had been motivated by the journalist's work, according to Terra.
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.
