The IAPA today expressed concern at the murder of journalist Luciano Leitão Pedrosa in Pernambuco, Brazil, and urged the authorities to conduct a prompt investigation to identify those responsible, determine their motives and bring them to justice.

Pedrosa, 46, a radio and television reporter, was killed on Saturday (April 9) while he was in a restaurant in the Bela Vista neighborhood of Vitória de Santo Antão in Pernambuco state. A man entered the restaurant and shot four times. Only one shot hit him, killing him instantly. The assailant fled on a motorcycle driven by another person, witnesses said.

IAPA President Gonzalo Marroquín, president of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Siglo 21, declared, “Although the reasons for the murder are under investigation it occurred just a few days after our organization concluded its biannual review of the state of press freedom in the Americas with a warning of the risk of violence against journalists. Regrettably, this new murder confirms it.”

Pedrosa was host of the program “Action and Citizenship” broadcast by TV Vitória. He also worked for Radio Metropolitana FM radio. His friends and colleagues said he was an active opponent of the local municipal government. He had received threats, but never filed a formal complaint.

For his part, the co-chair of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Jayme Sirotsky, of the RBS media group in Porto Alegre, Brazil, added, “The best antidote to impunity is the application of justice, so we call for a prompt, in-depth investigation.”

According to the authorities while witnesses announced at the time of the crime that this was a assault, the possibility has not been ruled out that Pedrosa was killed in reprisal for his on-air criticisms or his political activities.