(APG/IFEX) – APG demands that state security offices thoroughly investigate the condemnable attempt, on 7 August 2006, to kidnap the doctor and journalist Emilio Méndez Meda, president of the Union of Parliamentary Journalists (Unión de Periodistas Parlamentarios, UCP), and expresses its dismay at the reigning climate of insecurity in Guatemala. The UCP is a labour […]
(APG/IFEX) – APG demands that state security offices thoroughly investigate the condemnable attempt, on 7 August 2006, to kidnap the doctor and journalist Emilio Méndez Meda, president of the Union of Parliamentary Journalists (Unión de Periodistas Parlamentarios, UCP), and expresses its dismay at the reigning climate of insecurity in Guatemala. The UCP is a labour organization comprised of journalists who cover the sessions of the Guatemalan Congress.
His usual car, driven by his chauffeur, was intercepted by the armed would-be kidnappers at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Eighth Street in Quinta Samayoa neighbourhood, in Zone 7 of the capital city. The assailants assaulted the driver and held him captive for a number of hours, releasing him eventually in another area of the city. The perpetrators made off with the vehicle.
Méndez Meda had decided to drive to work that day in a car other than the one he usually uses, and therefore avoided the kidnapping.
On 13 August, armed individuals, seated in a vehicle, kept continuous watch on Méndez Meda’s house. On 18 August, Méndez Meda filed a complaint with the National Police and the Public Prosecutor’s office regarding this incident.
Méndez Meda believes that he has been subject to these forms of intimidation because of his journalistic work, in which he has repeatedly denounced organized crime and government corruption.
He has stated that he is uncertain of the exact source of these acts, but he believes that they might be indicative of the beginning of a new wave of repression against the press.
“I have not considered fleeing into exile yet, since I am confident the situation will be clarified and that the criminals who sought to rob me of my freedom will be identified and brought to justice”, Méndez Meda said.
In the context of violence, insecurity and tension that affects all Guatemalans, journalists included, APG condemns these painful acts and the government inaction that permits them. APG asks journalists’ organizations worldwide to speak out against these acts.
