UNESCO condemns Salvadoran journalist's murder
Garcia was murdered by unidentified assailants as he drove to work.
SAN SALVADOR (AFP) - UNESCO on Wednesday condemned the murder of a 23-year-old journalist in El Salvador earlier this month, saying such violence against media workers has a "far reaching effect on society."
The head of the UN agency for education, science and culture, Irina Bokova, said in a statement on the March 10 killing of Nicolas Humberto Garcia that such acts had a chilling effect on free public expression.
Garcia was murdered by unidentified assailants as he drove to work at the Expresa Voces al Aire community radio station in western El Salvador.
The watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said Garcia was killed by members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, one of the criminal organizations whose violence has turned El Salvador into the world’s deadliest country not at war.
Garcia had been hosting a program telling listeners how to prevent violence, and on occasion he interviewed police officers.
The president of El Salvador’s Association of Journalists, Serafin Valencia, said Garcia had rejected attempts by the gangs to work for them and that was probably why he was killed.
