19 February 2005
Rafael Enrique Prins Velasquez
Shooting
Rafael Prins Velásquez, journalist and editor of the newspaper Apocalipsis was talking to a number of locals in a park in Magangué, Bolívar, when a hooded assassin opened fire shooting Velásquez six times and leaving him severely injured.
Velásquez was brought to the nearby San Luis de Dios hospital where after several attempts to save his life he died. Five days before he was killed Velásquez had published an article criticizing maladministration within the Municipal Department of Transport in Magangué.
The day before his death he had distributed a leaflet denouncing irregularities within the contractual and working programme for basic health matters directed by the Secretary for Health.
According to local inhabitants of the city of Magangué, he was killed for his critical reporting on crime and corruption and he could also have been the target of the extreme right-wing paramilitaries who dominate the region.
