Henry Pinedo, the director of Radio Ayahuasca, reported that his team has received various death threats in text messages sent to their mobile phones. It is thought that the threats are related to reporting on problems with the local city waste collection service.
On 21 April 2014, journalist Henry Pinedo, the director of Radio Ayahuasca which broadcasts the programmes “Basta ya” and “El poder y el pueblo”, reported that his team had received various death threats in text messages sent to their mobile phones. He also said that one of the station’s journalists was injured when a municipal employee burst into the broadcasting booth to attack him. The incidents took place in Nauta, Loreta region, which is in the northeast of the country.
According to Pinedo, the threats are related to reporting on problems with the waste collection service, which is the responsibility of the Nauta municipality.
Denis Flores, journalist and host of “Basta Ya”, told IPYS that on 16 April he was attacked by Hitler Montenegro Torres, a municipal employee who had violently entered the broadcasting booth to punch him.
Raúl Silvano, who hosts “Entre el poder y el pueblo” and Henry Vela, a radio Ayahuasca reporter, also received death threats telling them to stop criticizing the Nauta mayor, Darwin Grandes.
According to the journalists, there is an audio recording in which a group of Nauta city employees plan a series of attacks against the media workers aimed at silencing them and protecting the Grandes reelection campaign.
IPYS condemns these violent episodes against the Radio Ayahuasca journalists and calls on the government to deal with the incidents as reported by Pinedo and his team.
