Journalist Silvia Velarde reported that a group of residents of the El Alto area assaulted and threatened to kill her when she was covering an attempted lynching.
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 30 August 2009, journalist Silvia Velarde, of the newspaper “Extra”, in La Paz, reported that a group of residents of the area known as El Alto assaulted and threatened to kill her when she was covering an attempt to lynch several alleged thieves. Velarde said that her camera was stolen, she was beaten and was told she would be burned alive.
The journalist told the National Press Association (ANP) that a source gave her information about a house that was being burned down with several alleged thieves inside. When she went to the scene of the incident and began taking photographs, an unidentified man snatched her camera, while a group of people demanded that she show her credentials. The fact that she did not have her press credentials on her provoked the group’s rage. They threatened her and beat her until she fell to the ground.
The newspaper presented a complaint to the El Alto Special Crime Fighting Unit (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Crimen, FELCC).
