Ecuadorian journalist Gerardo Delgado Olmedo shot and killed in Manta
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
24 August 2022
3 minute read
CPJ: "We are shocked by the brazen killing of journalist Gerardo Delgado in broad daylight in Manta and urge Ecuadorian authorities to fully investigate whether he was targeted for his work."
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 17 August 2022.
Ecuadorian authorities should conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting death of journalist Gerardo Delgado Olmedo and determine whether the killing was related to his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.On August 10, two gunmen shot and killed Delgado while he was in his car stopped at a traffic light on the outskirts of the Pacific coast city of Manta, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. Shortly before the shooting, Delgado had received a call informing him of a possible suicide – a report that turned out to be false – and was on his way to investigate, according to news reports.
Ricardo Lucas, fire chief of nearby Montecristi, told reporters that Delgado’s 19-year-old daughter was also in the car, but was unhurt in the shooting. Police later that night detained two suspected gunmen, one of whom said that he was to have been paid $2,000 for killing Delgado, according to news reports.
“We are shocked by the brazen killing of journalist Gerardo Delgado in broad daylight in Manta and urge Ecuadorian authorities to fully investigate whether he was targeted for his work,” CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick said in New York. “While we are glad to see that authorities have acted swiftly to identify the gunmen, they must continue investigating to identify the masterminds and motive behind Delgado’s murder.”
Delgado, 39, posted videos about crime and neighborhood news on a Facebook page that he founded called Ola Manta TV. Rody Vélez, a Manta journalist and close friend of Delgado, told CPJ that Delgado sometimes criticized the Manta city government for the lack of streetlights, garbage collection, and other public services in poor neighborhoods. Due to such reporting, Vélez said that Delgado was well-known in Manta and considered running for a city council seat in local elections scheduled for next year.
More:
https://ifex.org/ecuadorian-journalist-gerardo-delgado-olmedo-shot-and-killed-in-manta/
Google translation:
"They took my daddy from me, everything from me": journalist Gerardo Delgado's daughter fired her father with an emotional message
Gerardo Delgado was assassinated on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 10, in Manabí.
By Anahi Torres
August 11, 2022 at 12:22 p.m.
The daughter of the journalist Gerardo Delgado spoke through an emotional message on her Facebook account. The minor revealed several of the dreams that she longed to fulfill with her father. The journalist was murdered hit-man style in Montecristi, Manabí province while he was in his car with one of his daughter and a co-worker.
A letter full of love and sorrow
“I don't understand why life is so unfair, I don't understand how someone so good can be taken away in such a cruel way. Daddy, you were going to get old and I was going to take care of you, you left me alone, you left me before time. I told you pa' when you turn 20 and you 40 we take a picture that says 40 and 20. THEY DIDN'T LET YOU REACH 40!”, began the minor.
It is not for less, Anahí continued describing what she experienced a day before the attack and also showed how she is feeling at the moment. "I still don't believe it. For me this is a lie, a nightmare and I want to wake up. Yesterday we talked, we were singing, I told you: 'Pa' I'm a Nigga and you're an elf', you made a joke and said 'Oh, I'm ashamed', but you played along with me anyway. You told me 'mija is beautiful today, why do you dress up so much, who are you going to see?', I laughed, "he said.
"I really don't understand, I don't understand what I have done to life to take my best friend away from me, because it was you who comforted me when I cried, who knew all my secrets, who I told everything to, but absolutely all. And now, who am I going to tell what is happening to me? To whom will I say 'daddy doesn't know what happened to me, it's just happening to me'?” he added.
“I remember yesterday you said 'God is good all the time and all the time, God is good' and I have a bit of a grudge against that God, because a good God took the love of my life from me, he took my dad, He took my best friend, my brother! A year ago I was crying for my sister's death and now I'm crying for yours. Daddy, you told me that you didn't want to see me bad, but this has me very bad, I don't know how to continue without you, I can't continue, all this hurts me so much, I don't understand how there are people so bad as to do what they did to you ”, he added.
“I will try to leave everything in the hands of that good God that you thought existed. As you said, I will be your legacy. I'm going to do everything I told you, everything I promised you I would do. As you told me go for your dream, I will do it for you dad. Every achievement of mine will be yours and I will be the woman you always wanted me to become, ”he also stressed.
More:
https://www.nuevamujer.com/espectaculos/2022/08/11/me-quitaron-a-mi-papi-a-mi-todo-hija-del-periodista-gerardo-delgado-despidio-a-su-padre-con-un-emotivo-mensaje/