Manuel Buendia - Journalist
Date: 1984
Region: Central America and the Caribbean
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Print Journalism
Artist: Manuel Buendia (1926 - 1984)
Confronting Bodies: Unknown.
Dates of Action: 1984
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Description of Artwork: Buendia was a highly respected reporter and columnist. In his nationally syndicated column he took on everyone from drug runners to right-wing politicians.
The Incident: In 1984, he was shot and killed in the street in Mexico City. The subsequent investigation was botched so badly that key evidence mysteriously disappeared or was destroyed, and the case was quietly closed for more than a year. The investigations seem to lead to officials in a disbanded federal security agency, about whom Buendia is believed to have acquired damaging information.
Results of Incident: The case has since been re-opened.
Source: Columbia Journalism Review, "Who's killing all these journalists?", by Barak Kassar