Coutinho da Silva, owner of the weekly Cachoeiras Jornal in the village of Cachoeiras de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro, was killed by unknown assassins. The assailants fired 14 shots at close range while the journalist sat in his car at a stoplight in the neighboring town of São Gonçalo. A police investigation revealed several possible motives for the killing, all linked to Coutinho da Silva’s work. Motives include his investigation of police corruption, which led to the arrest of a group of officers who have been detained after August 7, and his investigation of a local politician’s involvement in an environmental scandal, which he was planning to publish at the time of his murder.
