Investigating murder of journalist Lourenço “Leo” Veras in Paraguay

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The journalist Lourenço "Leo" Veras was murdered at his home, in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero. (Credit: Public Ministry of Paraguay)

(CNN Spanish) - Authorities in Paraguay are investigating the murder of journalist Lourenço “Leo” Veras on Wednesday at his home in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, bordering the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil.

Veras was the Communication director of the Brazilian portal Porã News.

The Paraguayan Public Ministry said Thursday that Veras received 12 bullet strikes, including a "fulminating" head, which would come from a 9 mm caliber weapon.

Prosecutor Marco Amarilla, who intervenes in the case, said in a statement that a source reported that the journalist had received death threats a couple of days before, “but he did not know whether these threats came from the Brazilian or Paraguayan side, which is under investigation now. ”

According to Amarilla, both the cell phone and the Veras laptop will be subject to expertise "in order to extract data and information."

The prosecutor said that, according to the journalist's family, the attackers arrived in a truck with a patent from Paraguay that stopped in front of his house, and that two armed people entered the house while entering the house while the family was getting ready for dinner.

You see, according to witnesses cited by the prosecution, he was attacked "without words."

According to the statement, Veras' wife said that he lived "very tense in these last days, he was fearful."

Now the Public Ministry seeks to determine who the perpetrators were through an investigation of a work team composed of five prosecutors from the areas of organized crime, drug trafficking, anti-kidnapping, international affairs and the prosecutor of the unit in charge of the case.

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) said in a statement Thursday its "strongest conviction" for the murder of the journalist and requested a "thorough investigation to identify the material and intellectual authors of the crime."

The portal for which Vera worked, Porã News, wrote on her Facebook account on Wednesday: “The border press is in mourning, unfortunately we lost the journalist Leo Veras, only nostalgia remains in our hearts, may God keep you my brother friend, the heart is broken. ”

Journalist Murder