Sánchez covered local political news and was in charge of the daily paper’s investigative unit. He had received death threats in November 2006 after reporting on the killing the previous month of U.S. journalist Bradley Will, an independent documentary filmmaker and reporter for the Web site Indymedia. Will was shot while documenting clashes between activists and government agents in the provincial capital.

Añorve said he did not know the motive behind the attack, but believes it is related to Sánchez’s journalism. The local police and state attorney’s office are investigating, he said.

“["]We condemn the shooting attack on Misael Sánchez Sarmiento,["]” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director. ["]We call on Oaxaca authorities to thoroughly investigate the attack, find all those responsible and bring them to justice.”["]

Tiempo is a pro-government paper that has criticized the local antigovernment group Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), which clashed last year with Oaxaca authorities during a months-long conflict that paralyzed the city.

The conflict began last June when authorities used tear gas to break up a demonstration by striking teachers. That prompted leftist activists to take to the streets in a bid to oust Oaxacan Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. Media outlets were targeted by both sides in the ensuing unrest, and several journalists were beaten and harassed while covering the violence. The conflict peaked with Will’s murder in October.

Since 2000, six journalists have been killed in direct reprisal for their work in Mexico, and CPJ is investigating the circumstances surrounding the slayings of 12 others. In addition, five journalists have disappeared since 2005, three of them this year.

On May 9, a CPJ delegation met with Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana, the Mexican ambassador to the United States. The delegation called on Mexico’s federal government to take concrete steps to protect press freedom and prosecute those responsible for crimes against the press.

—cpj.org

sombrero tip to elenemigocomun.net (email list)

And he works for a paper critical of the APPO! But clearly all that matters here is that whatever forces shot Brad Wills stay unknown to us.

I guess that's the USA's new way to deal with journalists. Both in Iraq and Mexico. When reporters begin showing the world what is going on, shoot them dead. Such a Western approach, eh? Don't change the causes. Kill the symptom. In this way, the world at large abdicates its ability to learn or grow from error, or do much of anything but head straight for its own demise.

This shooting infuriates me. Yet, it only deepens my commitment to la gente y la verdad. Let the sneaking, bloodsucking forces of oppression and control wage their war of shadow killling and 4th Generation War and psyops and economic manipulation and subversion of the People's interests. Never let us forget though, who has the numbers. And on our side, righteous truth.

My brightest dreams and most fevered hopes for Señor Sarmiento's speedy recovery, and for his continued investigation into uncovering what forces have so much at stake in keeping the truth behind what connects Oaxaca with Ulises Ruiz Ortiz—and undoubtedly, the Mexican government and the American CIA—hidden.