Jose Manuel

OCTOBER 25, 2007 
Posted December 7, 2007

Paulina Moreno, Ávila TV
ATTACKED

Moreno, a reporter for the government-owned Ávila TV, was injured during an explosion at a debate in Caracas on the constitutional reforms proposed by President Hugo Chávez Frías.

In late 1998, the breakdown of the 1994 Lusaka peace accords led to the resumption of a brutal civil war that has killed more than half a million Angolans and devastated the country's economy. Since then there has been a marked increase in the frequency and seriousness of reported press freedom violations in Angola.

At the beginning of January, the government effectively imposed a news blackout on coverage of the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). In a memo disseminated via state media, the Ministry of Social Communications said Angolan journalists should not even refer to the war, although state media continued to issue reports that minimized government setbacks and characterized UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi as a war criminal.

January 13, 2000

His Excellency José Eduardo dos Santos
President of the Republic of Angola
Gabinete da Presidencia da Republica
Luanda, Angola

VIA FAX: + 244-2-392733/ 391476/ 331898

Your Excellency:

Ahead of the United Nations Security Council open briefing on Angola, scheduled to take place in New York on January 18, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wishes once again to express its deep concern over the deteriorating press freedom situation in Angola.

Jose Manuel, a reporter with Benguela Province Radio, and Jose Maria dos Santos, a journalist with Radio Morena, a privately owned station in Benguela, were assassinated after having been beaten by assailants. According to a national radio broadcast, fishers near the scene said that the victims were taken from a car at dawn, dragged to the beach, and shot. The Voice of the Black Cockerel, a rebel radio station, reported that government forces detained the two men and took them to a state security prison, where they were interrogated, beaten, and executed. The bodies were left on a beach in Lobito. Police said they were investigating the murders.

Jose Manuel, a reporter with Benguela Province Radio, and Jose Maria dos Santos, a journalist with Radio Morena, a privately owned station in Benguela, were assassinated after having been beaten by assailants. According to a national radio broadcast, fishers near the scene said that the victims were taken from a car at dawn, dragged to the beach, and shot. The Voice of the Black Cockerel, a rebel radio station, reported that government forces detained the two men and took them to a state security prison, where they were interrogated, beaten, and executed. The bodies were left on a beach in Lobito. Police said they were investigating the murders.