Sánchez, 38, a host on local radio station Yumbo Estéreo, was shot three times by a masked assailant outside his home in Yumbo, in southwestern Valle del Cauca province, at around 9:45 p.m., colleague Leonardo Orozco told CPJ. Witnesses said the assailant had been waiting in the bushes behind Sánchez’s home, he said. Sánchez was taken to a local hospital and then to Valle University Hospital in the provincial capital, Cali, before dying at around midnight, Orozco said.
Sánchez was host of three weekly programs. “Notas de Gestión” and “La Personería,” were civic education programs funded by the local government. The third, “Mesa Redonda,” was a community-based opinion program, Orozco told CPJ.
During “Mesa Redonda” broadcasts, Orozco said, Sánchez sometimes criticized the performance of the local government. Sánchez once had been spokesman for the local mayor, according to the mayor’s press office. Orozco said that Sánchez had not mentioned getting threats.
Cali Police Cmdr. José Roberto León told CPJ that a joint investigation with the Cali state prosecutor had been opened. There were no concrete leads, he said.