First modification:
The Chilean communicator and journalist, Francisca Sandoval, who received a bullet while reporting on a May Day demonstration in a neighborhood in the center of Santiago de Chile, died this Thursday. Sandoval, 29, becomes the first reporter to be killed in the line of duty in Chile, since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
This Thursday, May 12, journalism was once again in mourning in Latin America. At the end of the morning, the death of the Chilean journalist, Francisca Sandoval, was confirmed. She died after receiving a gunshot wound to the head, during the Workers’ and Workers’ Day demonstrations, in downtown Santiago. Sandoval spent 12 days on life support in a hospital until her death.
After the news of her death, the television channel Señal 3 La Victoria, for which the journalist worked, spoke out.
“Francisca did not leave us. They murdered her. Through these words we confirm the death of our beloved Fran, ”deplored the media through her Twitter account.
“We will miss you and will do everything to find the truth,” the channel added.
Francisca did not leave us. They murdered her. Through these words we confirm the death of our beloved Fran. We will miss you and will do our best to find the truth.
– Signal 3 La Victoria (@tv_piola) May 12, 2022
The incident caused a great commotion in the South American country and the president, Gabriel Boric, affirmed this Thursday that “violence harms democracy.”
“Our commitment is to security and justice, and we will not rest in that effort. My condolences and hugs to the family of Francisca Sandoval, innocent victim of criminals. We will not allow impunity,” the president published on his social networks.
The Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, also lamented the tragic event.
“I regret the death of Francisca, a young journalist who leaves behind a young son, and I have been able to share the deep pain with the family. No one goes out into the street expecting this or that this happens to a child,” he stressed.
Francisca’s death hurts. Woman, young, mom, journalist and worker. These serious events outrage us, we will continue working for more security and justice. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends and co-workers. https://t.co/mkBwY1hKCt
– Izkia Siches Pastén (@izkia) May 12, 2022
“He tells us about the moment that the country is going through and how necessary a space of greater order is, and that requires the will of the different sectors so that people like Francisca do not end up dying or with serious injuries, and that is a job that we can do only as a government”, he added in statements to a local media.
An area of Santiago plagued by organized crime
Francisca Sandoval was doing a report in Barrio Meiggs, an area of the capital Santiago, where the violence generated by the mafias prevails; when a group of men opened fire after a clash with protesters.
A bullet went through Sandoval’s visor, leaving her seriously injured. Two other people were also injured in the shooting.
Francisca Sandoval died, a young journalist, a hard-working woman, full of dreams, leaves behind a 6-year-old girl, her life was taken from her in the country of impunity…Chile hurts
– Fernando Leal (@FernandoLealA) May 12, 2022
Days after the shooting, members of the State security forces arrested the alleged perpetrator; a man identified as Marcelo Naranjo, who remains in preventive detention and who could be charged with homicide. The 41-year-old subject already had a criminal record for carrying a firearm and drug trafficking.
Organized criminals from the Meiggs neighborhood murdered the young journalist Francisca Sandoval, witnesses saw @carabdechile living with these, an active role of @FiscaliadeChile in the investigation of this crime, criminal mafia that operates and contacts that they have
– Carmen Hertz Deputy (@carmen_hertz) May 12, 2022
But from different forums in Chile, the authorities are being demanded to increase their fight against the organized crime gangs that have established themselves in the country and that are dedicated to all kinds of illegal trafficking, from weapons to drugs and people.
The practice of journalism in Chile: much better than in other countries in the region, but far from perfect
Since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship, Francisca Sandoval is the first journalist to be assassinated in Chile while doing her job.
The last was José Carrasco, kidnapped, detained and murdered by civilians from the dictatorship’s security services, after the ambush against Pinochet on September 7, 1986. The murderers had broken into the journalist’s house to take him away. Later, they left his body near the Parque del Recuerdo, with 14 bullet wounds, 12 of them in his skull.
This year, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Chile 82 out of 180 in its world ranking of press freedom, showing a drop of 28 places compared to 2021.
“Although freedom of the press is guaranteed in the Constitution and in the legal system, it is not always respected in practice,” analyzed RSF. Likewise, it was indicated that “investigative journalism is losing ground while attacks on journalists are multiplying.”
With Efe and local media
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