Journalist Armando Murrieta García, producer of the “Third Time” programme on Radio Ten FM in Iquitos, Loreto, denounced that he was detained by Gilberto Fachín Rodríguez in a room of the restaurant Mangos Chickens, which is owned by Fachín. Murrieta had stated in his radio programme that Fachín is not the real owner of the […]
Journalist Armando Murrieta García, producer of the “Third Time” programme on
Radio Ten FM in Iquitos, Loreto, denounced that he was detained by Gilberto Fachín Rodríguez in a room of the restaurant Mangos Chickens, which is owned by Fachín. Murrieta had stated in his radio programme that Fachín is not the real owner of the chicken restaurant, and that it actually belongs to former Minister of the Presidency José Tomás Gonzales Reátegui.
According to the journalist, the incident occurred on 22 January 2000, when he met his wife at the restaurant for supper. On his way to the restaurant’s bathroom, he was intercepted by Fachín, who took him to a room where he disagreed strongly with the opinions expressed on Murrieta’s radio programme. Fachín threatened Murrieta with a knife and hit him when he fell to the floor. Murrieta’s wife, noting the strange length of his absence, went to look for him. The journalist appeared moments later, bloodied and with a cut eyebrow. The incident was reported to the local police station, and on 25 January, it was presented to the public prosecutor for crime prevention.
This would not be the first time Fachín has acted in such a manner. According to journalist Luis Ugaz, in June 1999 Fachín threatened him and was verbally abusive to him. Ugaz, then director of the news program “I am the Voice of the People” on Radio Ten, said he was also threatened for having been critical of former Minister Gonzales Reátegui. Fachín, who worked in the Loreto Transitory Commision of Regional Administration (Comision Transitoria de Administracion Regional, CTAR) at the time, went to the journalist’s office. With a gun in his hand and using foul language, he warned Ugaz to stop talking about Gonzales Reátegui. Fachín also informed him that he was a “black belt.” Ugaz publicly denounced the threats at the time of the incident.
