News from El Salvador for
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Arrest made in murder of French filmmaker
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| Published on Saturday, September 5, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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(AFP) -- Police have arrested a member of the feared Mara 18 gang in the killing of Franco-Spanish journalist Christian Poveda whose film on gangs was to debut this month, sources close to the probe said Friday.
The arrest was made Thursday near the area where Poveda was killed on Wednesday just outside the capital.
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| Police arrest alleged members of the 18 Street (Mara 18) gang at Brisas del Norte neighboorhood in the town of Zaragoza, La libertad. AFP PHOTO |
Poveda was gunned down just weeks before the release of his latest documentary on violent drug gangs that blight the country. He had been filming in La Campanera, a suburb of El Salvador's capital where gangs known as "maras" fight for criminal turf.
"The investigation is under way. We cannot give details on it for obvious reasons but we do believe that gangs could be behind the death of Mr Poveda," acting Attorney General Astor Escalante told reporters.
Born in France to a family of Spanish origin, Poveda covered El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war and moved here permanently in 2003. He was married to a Salvadoran woman.
"La Vida Loca," his film about the Mara 18 gang, whose heavily-tattooed members engage in drug trafficking and extortion, is set for release in Europe on September 30.
According to some local media reports he broached the topic of M 18 members leaving their lives of crime in the new documentary.
"The most probable thing is that he was the victim of one of the gangs he was investigating, a murky underworld that even the local authorities have no handle on," said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Reporters Without Borders.
El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes, a former journalist who knew Poveda, said he was "dismayed" by the death, which he "strongly condemned."
Poveda's other documentaries have been broadcast around the world and featured at film festivals. | | | | Reads : 215 |
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