A Brazilian journalist on Thursday was shot dead by masked men, who broke into his home in the Paraguayan border city of Pedro Juan Caballero, a prosecutor said.
Paraguayan prosecutor, Marco Amarilla, said Leo Veras, who ran the Portuguese-language news outlet, Pora News, was having dinner with his wife when two men entered his house and opened fire on him.
Veras was known for his journalism on organised crime in the border region between Brazil and Paraguay.
A journalists’ union in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul confirmed that Veras had received death threats ahead of the incident.
Many Brazilian criminal organisations operate in Paraguay, which is one of the largest producers of marijuana in Latin America. Most of it is smuggled to neighbouring countries Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
In January, there was mass jail breakout from a Paraguayan prison near the border, with most of those who escaped thought to be members of the Brazilian crime cartel Primer Comando da Capital (PCC).(dpa/NAN)
