UNESCO head speaks out against killing of journalist in El Salvador

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom today condemned the killing of a Franco-Spanish journalist and documentary film-maker in El Salvador.

Christian Poveda, 52, was shot dead in Tonacatepeque, some 10 kilometres from the capital, San Salvador.

According to Salvadoran press reports, the district is a fiefdom for the street gang known as Mara 18, about which Mr. Poveda, who documented violence in the Central American nation over the past three decades, had just finished making a film called La Vida Loca.

“Christian Poveda was a committed chronicler of our times and it is a tragedy that he was made to pay for his professional commitment with his life,” said Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He also expressed hope that those people behind the journalist’s killing will be brought to justice.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization, said that media professionals covering gang violence in El Salvador and elsewhere in the region have become targets, with security concerns hindering in-depth reporting on the origins and cause of the violence.