Ouro Verde
January 11, 1997, in Paragominas, Brazil
Gatinho, a correspondent for the television station Ouro Verde, also known as TV Mundial, was fatally shot. A militant activist of the Worker's Party and a candidate in the 1996 municipal elections, the journalist had been receiving death threats because of his radio program. A truck driver with whom Gatinho had had a fight two days before his death was arrested for the murder but has denied the charges. Brazilian press groups suspect that local landowners murdered Gatinho because of his journalistic work, but some journalists believe he was killed because of a personal feud with the truck driver. Gatinho had accused him of running over and killing a colleague at Ouro Verde. Until November 1996, he also hosted a program for Radio Cidade in which he read letters from farmers and workers complaining about their dire conditions.Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.
