(IPYS/IFEX) – On 21 April 2007, the director of Peru’s Sports Institute (Instituto Peruano del Deporte, IPD), Hugo Catalán Loayza, punched journalist Hernán Farfán Cruzado, director of Inti Radio, in the face and kicked him. The public official entered the home of a friend of the journalist while a birthday party was in progress and […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 21 April 2007, the director of Peru’s Sports Institute (Instituto Peruano del Deporte, IPD), Hugo Catalán Loayza, punched journalist Hernán Farfán Cruzado, director of Inti Radio, in the face and kicked him. The public official entered the home of a friend of the journalist while a birthday party was in progress and astonished everyone by hitting the journalist and kicking him until he fell to the floor. The other guests’ outraged response prompted him to leave. The incident took place in Abancay, Apurímac region, southern Peru.
Farfán Cruzado told IPYS that the attack was the public official’s way of taking revenge for accusations broadcast by Farfán Cruzado over the radio that implicate Catalán Loayza in the misappropriation of funds and describe him as inefficient. The journalist explained that the official is threatening the region’s sports journalists, telling them that if they accuse him of irregularities, their children will suffer the consequences.
