Guatemala News: Police Arrest Three Suspects in Connection to Murder of Journalist
Guatemalan police arrested three suspects in the murder of news cameraman Guido Armando Giovanni Villatoro Ramos, a police official said, according to EFE.
The spokesman for the National Civil Police Jorge Aguilar said the arrests took place in Suchitepequez province on Guatemala's southern coast, where the Guatemalan reporter was killed Friday night.
The three suspects, identified as Danic Macguiber Roden Petzey, Rigoberto Batz Sojven and Diego Quic Ixcotoya, are said to be involved in the extortion of the Servicable company where Villatoro worked.
The 20-year-old was reportedly murdered in relation to the extortion of the company that provided Cable TV services in the place where the journalist was gunned down.
Villatoro was fatally shot Friday after an armed attack by motorists outside the canal of his work place occurred. He is the third journalist to be killed in Guatemala in the past week, La Info reports.
"Servicable roundly condemns the vile and cowardly murder of our friend, co-worker and journalist Armando Guido Villatoro, who excelled in channel (local) 14 for being a journalist devoted to his work," the company said.
He died of gunshot wounds to the back at the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.
Journalists Federico Salazar of Radio New World and Danilo Lopez of the Prensa Libre newspaper were killed on Tuesday in a similar attack.
Another journalist by the name of Marvin Tunches, who works at a local TV station, was wounded and is recovering from a bullet to the chest in Guatemala City.
Artemio de Jesús Ramírez Torres, who goes by the name of "El Barbas," was arrested on the suspicion of the murders on Tuesday.
Another suspect, Sergio Cardona Reyes, is said to cooperate with police on the case.
The 29-year-old El Barbas and 31-year-old Cardona Reyes are set to give their first depositions on March 31.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com