(IPYS/IFEX) – On 18 March 2004, Amaro León León, mayor of Yungay province, was arrested by the Huaraz police for allegedly masterminding journalist Antonio De La Torre Echeandía’s murder. Police also arrested Pedro Ángeles and Antenor Figueroa, a driver and guard, respectively, for the municipality. Ángeles and Figueroa have both been implicated in the crime. […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 18 March 2004, Amaro León León, mayor of Yungay province, was arrested by the Huaraz police for allegedly masterminding journalist Antonio De La Torre Echeandía’s murder.
Police also arrested Pedro Ángeles and Antenor Figueroa, a driver and guard, respectively, for the municipality. Ángeles and Figueroa have both been implicated in the crime.
The De La Torre family’s lawyer, Jéssica Martínez, reported that the driver, when questioned, accused León León of having De La Torre murdered in order to stop the journalist from publicising a report that criticised the mayor.
Ancash Superior Court Chair Jorge Alarcón Menéndez said that the authorities’ investigations have implicated León León in the crime.
De la Torre was killed on 14 February after leaving a party. The journalist was highly critical of alleged corruption in León León’s administration and, as host of Radio Órbita’s news programme “El equipo de la noticia”, became the administration’s most prominent critic.
According to investigations by Yungay’s public prosecutor, Edwin Flores Martínez, at the time of his death, the journalist was carrying a copy of a bill that implicated the municipality in irregular expenditures.
The prosecutor implicated León León in the murder, but a Yungay court judge shelved the accusation, citing insufficient evidence to link the mayor to the crime.
The journalist’s family won an appeal of the decision. León León was summoned to testify but failed to appear and was subsequently arrested.
