(RSF/IFEX) – In letters addressed to Spanish Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja and the president of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, RSF expressed its concern about the bomb attack on the offices of the daily “El Mundo” in Barcelona. “Once again, the press is targeted by terrorists in Spain, following a […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In letters addressed to Spanish Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja and the president of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, RSF expressed its concern about the bomb attack on the offices of the daily “El Mundo” in Barcelona. “Once again, the press is targeted by terrorists in Spain, following a long series of attacks in the Basque Country,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you keep us informed of the results of the investigation,” he added.
According to information obtained by RSF, on Friday 29 September 2000, at 9:15 a.m. (local time), three masked individuals – two men and a woman – entered the newspaper “El Mundo”‘s buildings in Barcelona, after restraining security service employees. The three individuals placed a parcel containing explosives in a wastepaper bin of the administrative services, identified themselves as members of the “1 October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group” (GRAPO), and ran away. The bomb exploded after the offices had been evacuated. Six persons were injured in the blast and there was also a great deal of material damage to the offices.
In recent days, the GRAPO have claimed responsibility for two other bomb attacks, one in Madrid and the other in Sevilla. This series of attacks by GRAPO follows a period of inactivity for the organisation in recent years. The motives behind the bomb attack on the newspaper “El Mundo” in the Catalonian capital are unknown.
RSF has often denounced the threats and attacks against Spanish journalists in the past. Four recent attacks against information professionals have been attributed to the Basque guerrilla group ETA. On 25 April, a parcel bomb addressed to journalist Jesús Maria Zuloaga of the Madrid daily “La Razon” was found and defused (see IFEX alert of 26 April 2000). On 28 March, in Sevilla, the star journalist of National Spanish Radio (RNE), Carlos Herrera, also received a parcel bomb, which was defused by police. On 21 March, a home-made bomb caused material damage in journalist Pedro Briongos’ parents’ home. Briongos is a correspondent with the daily “El Correo” in Bilbao (see IFEX alerts of 29, 28 and 22 March 2000). On 18 February, sympathisers of the Basque independence organisation called for a boycott of several national media, including the dailies “El Correo”, “El Diario Vasco” and “El Diario de Navarra”. On 7 May, José Luis Lopez de la Calle, a contributor to the Basque Country edition of the daily “El Mundo”, was assassinated (see IFEX alerts of 10 and 8 May 2000). Many journalists have been threatened in the Basque Country.
