A French filmmaker who made a documentary about gangs in El Salvador has been shot dead on a road near the capital, police said.
The body of Christian Poveda, 54, was found on Wednesday in El Rosario county along with documents he was carrying close to his vehicle, a National Civil Police spokesman told AFP.
President Mauricio Funes said he was dismayed by the photographer and journalist s killing, which he strongly condemned.
The Central American leader called on authorities to conduct all necessary investigations so that those responsible are brought to justice. He called on the country to unite to combat together the scourge of violence hitting El Salvador.
Poveda, police say, was on his way back from filming in gang-controlled La Campanera, a poor suburb north of San Salvador.
The French-Spanish journalist has published reports in numerous journals including The New York Times, Le Monde, El Pais, Paris Match and Stern, mostly on Latin American affairs.
His documentaries have been broadcast around the world and featured at film festivals.
One of his most recent documentaries, La Vida Loca (2008), followed the Mara 18 gang of heavily tattooed Salvadoran youths who engage in drug trafficking and extortion.
Salvadoran journalists expressed outrage at the killing. It is a sad loss. The cruel hand of violence has taken him from us, said Juan Jose Dalton of the Foreign Correspondents Association of El Salvador. -AFP
