Luis Gabriel Pereira, a 25-year-old Colombian journalist who was investigating a series of femicides and other violent crimes in his town, has been murdered, according to Colombia’s Interior Minister Luis Velasco. This marks the third such murder in seven months. Pereira was shot on Tuesday while traveling on a highway in Cienaga de Oro, a town located in the northern Cordoba province.
According to the minister, this came after he recently reported on murders of women in the municipality.
According to the Colombian Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), the attack was carried out by two men on a motorcycle.
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According to the Colombian Foundation For Freedom, Pereira had only been working as a reporter for a few months and had been running a news portal on Facebook where he published reports on crime and security issues. The foundation also reported that Pereira had recently written a series of articles on femicides committed in the municipality, where he identified the alleged aggressor by name.
“If this murder is confirmed to be related to his work, he would be the third journalist killed in the last seven months, two in this department” added the foundation.
Velasco condemned the killing and urged the relevant authorities to find those responsible.
