Shots fired at reporter’s car

FEBRUARY 3, 2007
Posted February 6, 2007

Wilder Jordán, Nuestro Diario
ATTACKED

Jordán, correspondent for the Guatemala City-based daily Nuestro Diario in the eastern Zacapa province, told CPJ that an unidentified individual aboard a motorcycle shot several times at his unoccupied car. Jordán, who was not injured, believes the attack was retaliation for an article on the death of a local man.

The reporter was approaching his vehicle after leaving his parents’ house in Gualán at 10:50 p.m., when he heard gunshots. According to local news reports, Jordán ran back into the house and waited until he heard the motorcycle speed away. When he left the house again, he found several bullet holes in his car, reported the local press.

Jordán told CPJ that he believed the attack was related to a January 15 article detailing the death of a local man after a car accident. Jordán said that on the day the article appeared in Nuestro Diario, four of the victim’s relatives came to his house and told him to write a new piece saying that the man had instead died of a heart attack. They said he would face consequences if he did not, Jordán said.

The journalist said that he filed an official complaint on February 3. He told CPJ that he left his home in the Zacapa because he fears for his life.