The journalist Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino, who was shot dead on 6 January, is believed to have been a victim of mistaken identity, according to the first results of the investigation into the killing.
(RSF/IFEX) – 12 January 2012 – The journalist Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino, who was shot dead on 6 January, is believed to have been a victim of mistaken identity, according to the first results of the investigation into the killing. Investigators now believe his death was not linked to his work as a journalist.
Garza, who worked for the weekly La Última Palabra, had just bought a new black Volkswagen Jetta which he was driving when he died in a hail of bullets a few metres from his home.
The next day, the killers returned to the area where he lived and shot dead one of his neighbours who owned the same model of car. This lends support to the assumption that the second victim was the real target, not the journalist.
According to Miguel Oscar Pérez, managing editor of La Última Palabra, Garza never used a byline on his articles.
Perez also told the Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET), a partner organization of Reporters Without Borders, that the weekly never published stories on organized crime “since our safety is not guaranteed”.
