Paris, Jun 18 (EFE).- Editor-in-chief Jose Joaquin Tovar of the Venezuelan weekly Ahora was gunned down on the weekend in Caracas, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Sunday, adding that the killing might be linked to his journalistic stance critical of both the Hugo Chavez government and the opposition.
The non-governmental organization, known as RSF for its initials in French, said in a communique that Tovar, 53, might have been killed due to his "journalistic activity," given that in the column he wrote for Ahora "he criticized the government as well as the opposition." The editor was shot 11 times on Saturday in the apparent targeted hit.
RSF, which defends reporters and freedom of the press worldwide, issued "a call to the authorities to completely clear up this case.
We still do not know if (the murder) has any relation to the victim's activities, but certainly this hypothesis must not be ignored, keeping in mind the editorial stance of Jose Joaquin Tovar," who was also the president of the National Republican University Foundation.
In addition, RSF complained that "with two journalists dead since the beginning of the year in Venezuela, the press is paying a heavy cost in the climate of generalized insecurity" in the South American country.
Tovar was also a member of an association that helps organize communities to get more housing.
