Guillermo Soto Bejarano, editor of the weekly "Nuevo Milenio", reported that his home was shot at by unknown attackers.
(CEPET/IFEX) – Guillermo Soto Bejarano, editor of the weekly “Nuevo Milenio”, reported that early on the morning of 30 August 2009, his home in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, southern Mexico, was shot at by unknown attackers. There were no injuries reported.
“I was asleep when I heard the shots. The first thing I did was to run to the living room to protect my son who was sleeping there. I carried him and my other children into the bathroom to protect them”, said Soto Bejarano in an interview.
Soto Bejarano said that his eldest son saw a black Ford Lobo truck with tinted windows driving slowly in front of the house between the hours of 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. (local time). The shots started when he turned on the house’s lights.
When the attack was over, Soto Bejarano called the police. After looking over the home, municipal police said they found six 9mm cartridges. Four bullets hit the front of the house, another hit the journalist’s car and the last hit a gas tank.
According to Soto Bejarano, police recommended that the family leave their home for their own protection. Police took them to the home of family member.
The journalist, who is also the editorial director of the weekly “La Voz del Istmo”, said it was quite likely that the attack was linked to his journalistic work and said that the home of the previous director was also the target of gunfire in January 2009, but on that occasion warning shots were fired into the air.
He also said that amongst the sensitive information that had been published in the weekly was a piece about a story that may have been written by a lawyer who had been linked to organized crime.
Soto Bejarano submitted a report of the incident to the state attorney general’s office and another to the Federal Attorney General (Procurador General de la República, PGR).
