ARTICLE 19 has learned of death threats that were issued on 9 May 2014 towards Daniel Domínguez, a journalist who works for La Polaka, in Chihuahua. The threats were issued with the journalist tried to photograph the head of public transportation, who was holding a private meeting during working hours with the secretary of a transportation company.
ARTICLE 19 has learned of death threats that were issued on 9 May 2014 towards Daniel Domínguez, a journalist who works for La Polaka, an online news source that is edited in the state of Chihuahua.
The threats were issued with the journalist tried to photograph the head of public transportation in Chihuahua, Jesús Manuel García Reyes, who was holding a private meeting during working hours in a restaurant in Ciuded Juárez, with the secretary of the transportation company Intra Vivebus, Raúl Rodríguez Santillanes.
The incident took place after one of Domínguez’s colleagues asked García Reyes for an interview, who refused saying that he only gives interviews in his office.
When the journalist mentioned that García Reyes was currently on work time, Raúl Rodríguez Santillanes and two of his bodyguards pounced on Domínguez – who was with his colleague – to stop him from taking a picture of García Reyes.
Domínguez told ARTICLE 19 that Rodríguez Santillanes had threatened him, “You don’t know who you’re messing with. If that picture of my friend gets published, I will kill you, asshole.”
In front of a restaurant filled with diners, two of Rodríguez Santillanes’s bodyguards started taking pictures of Domínguez and threatening him, while Rodríguez Santillanes also continued with the threats.
“When things calmed down a bit I went to a press conference that was happening in the same place, but when I left at the end of it I noticed that the bodyguards followed me to my car and continued to take pictures of me,” Domínguez said.
The journalist filed a report about the threats with the state and federal Attorneys General.
ARTICLE 19 calls on the Chihuahua authorities to protect Daniel Domínguez. The organisation also called for an investigation into the threats so that those responsible can be punished.
For ARTICLE 19 it is clear that measures must be taken to guarantee that Domínguez can continue to carry out his work in safe conditions and for this reason the organisation calls on the state and federal Attorneys General to promptly investigate the threat.
