Progress has been made in the investigation into last month’s murder of Venezuelan journalist Orel Zambrano, the editor of the political weekly ABC, in Valencia, in the central state of Carabobo. One of the two suspected killers, former Carabobo state policeman Rafael Segundo Pérez, was arrested on February 17, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
Zambrano, 62, was gunned down at around 3 p.m. on January 16. He had just got out of his car and was walking towards a movie rental store when he was intercepted by two men on a motorcycle, one of whom shot him three times at close range. He died on the spot from a gunshot to the head while his assailants fled.
Zambrano had recently covered several drug trafficking cases including one involving the Makled family, an influential business family in the region. Brothers Abdala, Alex and Basel Makled were arrested in possession of around 400 kilos of cocaine during a search of a family property on November 14 and are now the subject of an investigation by the national prosecutor’s office.
“We hope this arrest will enable the investigators to identify all those involved and the motive for this murder,” RSF said.
