Brazilian Journalist Shot Dead at Home in Paraguayan Border City

HAVANA TIMES – A Brazilian journalist was killed after being shot 12 times by masked men who broke into his home in the Paraguayan border city of Pedro Juan Caballero, a prosecutor said on Thursday, reported dpa news.

Leo Veras, who ran the Portuguese-language news outlet Pora News, was eating dinner with his wife when two men entered his house and opened fire, Paraguayan prosecutor Marco Amarilla told a local radio station.

Leras was known for his journalism on organized crime in the border region between Brazil and Paraguay. A journalists’ union in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul confirmed that Leras had received death threats ahead of his killing.

Many Brazilian criminal organizations 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 breakout from a Paraguayan jail near the border, with most of those who escaped thought to be members of the Brazilian crime cartel Primer Comando da Capital (PCC).