(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 9 November 1998 letter to President Fujimori of Peru sent by CPJ regarding the ongoing climate of insecurity faced by Peruvian journalists: **For background information on recent attacks against the media in Peru, see IFEX alerts of 9 November, 6 November, 5 November, 30 October and 28 October 1998** […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 9 November 1998 letter to President Fujimori
of Peru sent by CPJ regarding the ongoing climate of insecurity faced by
Peruvian journalists:
**For background information on recent attacks against the media in Peru,
see IFEX alerts of 9 November, 6 November, 5 November, 30 October and 28
October 1998**
His Excellency
Alberto Fujimori
President of the Republic of Peru
Lima, Peru
Fax: +511 426 6535
Your Excellency,
On June 23, Your Excellency hosted a delegation of international press
freedom organizations who were visiting Lima to investigate a series of
attacks against Peruvian journalists. Americas program coordinator Joel
Simon represented the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in that
meeting. We were gratified by your apparent concern for press freedom and by
your pledge to investigate abuses. Four months after that visit, however, we
feel compelled to bring to your attention a series of attacks and threats
against Peruvian journalists which have raised new concerns.
During our June meeting, we asked you about possible government involvement
in a
campaign to discredit and intimidate independent journalists. We were
particularly alarmed by evidence suggesting a government role in a series of
defamatory articles about them published in Lima’s tabloid newspapers.
You answered that your government strictly respected press freedom and had
no official policy of inhibiting the work of journalists. Nevertheless, you
acknowledged that individuals within the government could have been
responsible for threats or attacks against the press and you promised to
investigate this matter. We were relieved that several days after our visit,
the defamatory articles ceased. We hope that the investigation is ongoing
and we await the results.
Recent attacks and threats against Peruvian journalists have heightened our
concern for the safety of journalists in Lima covering national security
issues, and for journalists working in the provinces.
The most recent incident of intimidation occurred on November 2, when two
phone calls were made threatening the Lima daily La República. A man called
the cellular phone of publisher Gustavo Mohme Llona. He warned Mohme that
he would be killed if he covered the visit of members of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, which arrived in Peru on November 8.
That same day, a call was made to the newspaper’s offices by a man who also
alluded to the commission’s visit, saying “We the patriots aren’t going to
allow that they intervene in our affairs.”
Another alarming incident occurred on October 26, when Cecilia Valenzuela,
whose
critical television news program “Without Censorship” was canceled on
October 11, received a death threat in an envelope bearing the seal of the
Peruvian Congress. The letter, which had been left at her residence, read
“You’re going to die, bitch (vas a morir, perra).” It was composed of pieces
of text clipped from different newspapers.
In another incident, on August 21, public prosecutor José Ochoa Lamas began
a criminal investigation of television news anchor César Hildebrandt for
espionage and treason. The investigation stemmed from a story broadcast on
Hildebrandt’s popular nightly news show “In Person (En Persona)” which
discussed peace treaty negotiations with Ecuador. While the charges against
Hildebrandt have been dropped, the lawsuit has had a chilling effect on
Peru’s journalists, whose professional obligation demands that they publish
or broadcast information of legitimate public interest. According to a
report broadcast on Hildebrandt’s program, a high-ranking military commander
denounced the journalist as a
“traitor” during a meeting on November 5 with other high-ranking military
officials.
We are also concerned about a series of threats against provincial
reporters. For example, radio reporter Isaac García, who covered municipal
elections in Tarapoto, has been receiving death threats since September,
when he aired a speech in which a government minister endorsed a local
candidate in municipal elections. Under Peruvian law, it is illegal for
government officials to endorse candidates.
During the June meeting, the members of the delegation expressed concern
about a
Superior Court decision in January which annulled the verdict against six
army officers and one civilian who had been convicted of the dynamite attack
on Global Television in Puno in October 1996. We are pleased that the
Supreme Court reversed that decision in September and ordered a new trial,
but are disturbed that the men who were freed remain at large.
While we appreciate your public statements in support of press freedom, and
your
willingness to meet CPJ’s representative and discuss this issue, we remain
concerned for the safety of Peruvian journalists. We ask you to include the
recent threats against journalists in your ongoing investigation, and to
ensure that those who seek to intimidate or threaten the press3/4whether
they are inside or outside the government are prosecuted to the full extent
of the law.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
CC Dennis Jett, US Ambassador, Lima
Ricardo Luna, Peruvian Ambassador, Washington, DC
Miguel Aljovín Swayne, Attorney General
Jorge Santistevan de Noriega, People’s Defender
Santiago Canton, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression
(OAS)
Consejo de la Prensa Peruana
Asociacion Nacional de Periodistas
Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists
Center for Justice and International Law
Congressional Committee to Support Writers and Journalists
Freedom Forum
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
Inter American Press Association
International Association of Broadcasting
International Center for Journalists
International Federation of Journalists
International Federation of Newspaper Publishers
International Journalism Institute
International PEN
International Press Institute
Journalist Safety Service
National Association of Black Journalists
Newspaper Association of America
National Press Club
The Newspaper Guild
North American National Broadcasters Association
Reporters Sans Frontières
Overseas Press Club
The Society of Professional Journalists
World Press Freedom Committee
