Rádio Vale do Jaguaribe
June 30, 2003, in Limoeiro do Norte, Brazil
Nicanor, radio host and owner of Rádio Vale do Jaguaribe, based in the city of Limoeiro do Norte, in the northeastern state of Ceará, was killed by at least two unidentified gunmen at around 8 p.m. while he was recording his daily show "Encontro Político" (Political Encounter) at his station's studios.According to the daily Diário do Nordeste, which is based in Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará State, a sound operator who witnessed the murder said the gunmen came into the studio, shot Nicanor several times at close range, and fled on a motorcycle. Nicanor was taken to Limoeiro do Norte's public hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
The Fortaleza daily O Povo reported that "Encontro Político," broadcast on weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., was one of the most popular radio shows in the region. According to O Povo, Nicanor was considered a controversial journalist whose hard-hitting commentaries had angered many local politicians and public officials.
Ceará State parliamentary deputy Paulo Duarte was quoted in Diário do Nordeste as saying that he had heard about a plot to kill Nicanor, and that the journalist had received threats. According to Duarte, Nicanor had scheduled a July 1 meeting with him and another state government official to discuss his safety.
Several members of Nicanor's family who gave testimony to the police believe that he was killed for his journalism, O Povo reported. The journalist's wife told Diário do Nordeste that Nicanor had received threats before he bought the radio station in 2001 but had not received any recently.
According to the news agency Agência Nordeste, police said that Nicanor's murder may have been a contract killing, and that the journalist had many enemies because of the critical reports that aired on his station.
In October, the Ceará State Public Prosecutor's Office identified a judge from the neighboring state of Pernambuco and his wife, Limoeiro do Norte's mayor, as the people who ordered Nicanor's murder. Under Brazilian law, federal and state prosecutors-not local prosecutors-deal with criminal cases against public officials, and they have yet to bring formal charges against the suspects.
Medium: Radio
Job: Columnist / Commentator, Publisher / Owner
Beats Covered: Corruption
Gender: Male
Local or Foreign: Local
Freelance: No
Type of Death: Murder
Suspected Source of Fire: Government Officials
Impunity: Yes
Taken Captive: No
Tortured: No
Threatened: Yes
