Journalist slain in Guatemala

Guatemala City, Aug 21 (IANS/EFE) Broadcast journalist Carlos Alberto Orellana Chavez was shot dead Monday in the southern province of Suchitepequez, Guatemalan police said.

The body was discovered in the municipality of San Bernardino a few hours after the journalist was reported missing, police spokesman Pablo Castillo told EFE.

The victim's car was stolen, the spokesman said.

Orellana, 62, spent 25 years with La Venadita radio and also hosted a television programme in Mazatenango, the provincial capital.

He is the fourth journalist slain in Guatemala so far this year.

Fredy Rodas, regional correspondent for Sonora es la Noticia radio and capital daily Al Dia, was seriously wounded last Monday in a shooting in Mazatenango.

A suspect is in custody in that case.

Authorities are investigating all of those killings, Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez said, while rejecting the notion that journalists as a group are under attack.

--IANS/EFE

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