08 March 2022 | CPJ
Guatemalan journalist Orlando Villanueva shot dead
Shooting
On the afternoon of March 8, an unknown number of unidentified individuals shot and killed Orlando Villanueva in a public sports facility in Puerto Barrios, the capital of the Izabal in eastern Guatemala.
Villanueva was the owner of and a reporter for Noticias del Puerto, a website and Facebook page that reports on local news and politics in Puerto Barrios, according to independent news website Prensa Comunitaria.
Journalists in Izabal have faced harassment from security forces and been criminally prosecuted in connection to their reporting on demonstrations and environmental issues.
Villanueva covered local politics and alleged corruption in Izabal, and Noticias del Puerto had recently published reporting about crime, security issues, and social protests in the area, according to CPJ’s review of its website.
On October 29, 2021, Villanueva said during a Facebook live that police and public prosecutors tried to enter his house by forcing the entrance door open after he reported police violence during a protest of miners.
The Guatemalan Association of Journalists, a local press advocacy group, told Prensa Comunitaria that Villanueva had alleged that he was intimidated by local prosecutors in Izabal, but the association did not provide any further details about the nature of the intimidation or the reasons for it.
Read the original article here: https://cpj.org/2022/03/guatemalan-journalist-orlando-villanueva-shot-dead-in-puerto-barrios/
