Police enters into radio stations in Rioja and Nueva Cajamarca

(IPYS/IFEX) – Officers of the Peruvian National Police have been visiting radio stations, particularly those that produce news programmes, in two towns in the department of San Martín. Without having any warrant for doing so, they have been asking the managers personal information about the news stations’ owners and employees, and have been particularly interested […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – Officers of the Peruvian National Police have been visiting
radio stations, particularly those that produce news programmes, in two
towns in the department of San Martín. Without having any warrant for doing
so, they have been asking the managers personal information about the news
stations’ owners and employees, and have been particularly interested in
finding out the political affiliation of each interrogated person.

Hugo Ushiñahua Panduro, owner of Radio Red Univision Satélite of Nueva
Cajamarca, in the province of Rioja, told IPYS that, on the morning of 12
May 1999, police officers from the local station (under Cajamarca police
chief is Major Juan Urteaga Alcalde), arrived at his studio with a list of
written questions about the radio station’s journalistic work.

IPYS was able to confirm this information via another telephone contact with
Teofilo Mori Mendoza, owner of Radio Rioja, in the same province. Mori
Mendoza stated that he had been similarly visited and had been asked the
same set of questions.

Both journalists expressed their concern over this kind of police operation.
IPYS interviewed the National Police provincial chief, Samuel Lopez, over
the telephone. Without hiding his discomfort, Lopez said that there had been
a misunderstanding by the police officers in carrying out his orders.
According to Lopez, he ordered his staff to try and approach the media
outlets to set up a public information campaign focusing on various themes.
He also stated that he had spoken with the media owners and explained the
confusion to them. Nevertheless, IPYS was able to confirm that about ten
stations were “visited” by the police, and when different journalists in the
region were consulted, they expressed their mistrust in the police’s real
intentions and remarked on the oddity of the questions they were asked. They
also commented on the hostile climate that marks their relationship with
some authorities, particularly with the mayors of Rioja and Nueva Cajamarca,
both of whom are members of the governing party.

Recommended Action

Jorge Santistevan de Noriega

Ombudsman

Lima, Peru

Fax: + 51 1 426 6657

Lieutenant General Fernando Dianderas Otonne

Director General of the Peruvian National Police

Fax: +51 1 225 1775
Chief Samuel Lopez

Provincial Chief of the Peruvian National Police

Rioja province, Peru

Fax +51 94 55 8017