Jesús Rafael Flores Rojas

President Hugo Chávez Frías, who has outlasted a coup and a recall, swept
to victory in the December 3 presidential election amid tense relations with the press. Chávez threatened to withhold licenses from broadcast outlets critical of his administration, while the attorney general quashed coverage of a prosecutor’s assassination amid press reports that exposed weaknesses in the government’s probe. Journalists faced physical dangers as well, with one murdered in 2006.

New York, August 29, 2006—An unidentified assailant shot and killed Venezuelan columnist Jesús Rafael Flores Rojas last week in front of his home in El Tigre in southwestern Anzoátegui province. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether Flores’ murder is related to his journalistic work.

Flores, known locally as “El Pavo Flores,” was editorial coordinator of the Anzoátegui edition of the daily La Región, which is based in Cumaná in neighboring Sucre province. Flores also wrote a weekly column in which he often criticized local government officials, Luis Marcano Barrios, editor of La Región, told CPJ.