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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08060165.htm
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Unidentified Assailants Kill Former HCJB Global Broadcaster
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR (ANS) — An Ecuadorian radio broadcaster who was one of the original staff members at HCJB Global Voice’s FM station in the coastal city of Guayaquil was shot to death by unknown assailants near his home the morning of Monday, June 23.
According to the HCJB Global Daily News Update, Raúl Rodríguez Coronel, 63, was vice president of news and host of the daily news and opinion program, “Buenos Días Ecuador” (good morning Ecuador), at the Guayaquil-based station, Radio Sucre. He was also an announcer and produced a news and Ecuadorian music program on Saturdays. He joined Radio Sucre in 1984 after 20 years with HCJB Global.
“Rodríguez presented his live program Monday morning and then drove to Guayacanes, a neighborhood north of Guayaquil, to pick up family members. When he arrived at his cousin’s house at about 7:20 a.m., press reports indicate that two unidentified men approached him, firing weapons,” said the HCJB story.
“Witnesses said Rodríguez hid behind a car, defending himself with a pistol, but at least one gunman followed him and fired more shots before the attackers fled in a taxi and another vehicle. He was taken to the local Kennedy Clinic where he died an hour later from four gunshot wounds to his leg, pelvis and chest, severing an artery.”
Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders are urging Ecuadorian authorities to hunt down the perpetrators and investigate all possible links between Rodríguez’s death and his work as a journalist.
The Asociación Ecuatoriana de Radiodifusión (Ecuadorian broadcasting association) called the incident another attack on free speech in Ecuador and suspected that Rodriguez’s death was tied to the fact he was a “professing evangelical Christian who made commentaries on such things as the fight against corruption in various public institutions and the high price of basic necessities.” He also took a firm stand against such things as drug trafficking, homosexuality and abortion.
Rodríguez’s family said he occasionally received telephone threats, and shots were fired at the facade of his house in 2005. The following year, six men tried to kill him as he was parking his car, reported the newspaper El Telégrafo.
José “Chema” Reinoso, an HCJB Global missionary on loan to Charles Stanley’s In Touch Ministries, called Rodríguez a “great friend and colleague, always ready to serve others. He was rather quiet but direct in expressing his opinions. He respected HCJB Global and the evangelical church of Ecuador.”
Rodríguez, who once served as president of the Evangelical Confraternity of Ecuador, was a devout Christian who openly shared his views. “He knew a lot of people, and he wasn’t afraid to report the news as he saw it,” said former HCJB Global missionary Tom Narwold who worked alongside Rodríguez at HCJB-2, the mission’s FM station in Guayaquil that was founded in 1972.
HCJB Global retiree Dave Manney, who also worked with Rodríguez, said he played a key role at HCJB-2, working as a control operator and on-air radio personality. “He was a hard worker, and you could count on him,” Manney said. Two of the programs that Rodríguez produced were “Amanecer con Dios con la Biblia en la Mano” (daybreak with God and the Bible) and “Impacto Deportivo” (sports impact).
Rodríguez joined HCJB Global in 1964, initially working with the mission’s Eslabón del Guayas (All-Ecuador Gospel Network) which distributed cultural and Christian programs to more than 40 radio stations across Ecuador.
HCJB Global retiree Tom Fulghum described Rodríguez as a “man who really loved the Lord. He was very enthusiastic and compassionate about whatever he did, and I really enjoyed working with him. When I asked him to do something, it got done. He was a great friend of HCJB Global.”
Rodríguez is survived by his wife, Silvia Orellana, of 39 years and four children, César, Solange, Alba and Samuel.
Sources: HCJB Global, El Comercio, La Calle de Guayaquil, Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20745&Itemid=128
Press ReleaseA080625a-229
June 25, 2008
Coalition forces target al-Qaeda in Iraq bombing, financing and propaganda networks
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces targeted al-Qaeda in Iraq bombing, financing and propaganda networks in central Iraq Tuesday, killing two terrorists and detaining 12 suspected terrorists.
Coalition forces identified and followed two men believed to be associated with al-Qaeda in Iraq bombing and finance operations to an area east of Samarra, about 110 kilometers north of Baghdad. When the driver of the suspects’ vehicle refused to comply with signals to stop, which included warning shots, Coalition forces perceived hostile intent and fired shots to stop the vehicle. The vehicle stopped, caught fire and ignited rounds of ammunition inside, killing both terrorists.
Northwest of Baghdad, Coalition forces detained seven suspected terrorists, including a wanted man allegedly linked to an international financier who provides funding for AQI operations. In Baghdad, five suspected terrorists were detained for their alleged ties to the AQI propaganda network.
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