(IPYS/IFEX) – David Mejía Huamán, director of the biweekly “La Selva”, in the city of Puerto Maldonado, in the country’s southeastern region of Madre de Dios, has asked the local prefect to ensure his safety. The journalist was threatened by the head of the Madre de Dios regional government, Rafael Edwin Ríos López, on 20 […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – David Mejía Huamán, director of the biweekly “La Selva”, in the city of Puerto Maldonado, in the country’s southeastern region of Madre de Dios, has asked the local prefect to ensure his safety. The journalist was threatened by the head of the Madre de Dios regional government, Rafael Edwin Ríos López, on 20 April 2004.
The most recent edition of “La Selva” contained information about irregularities committed by the Municipality of Tambopata and by the Madre de Dios regional government and judiciary. As a result, Ríos López launched a criminal complaint against the biweekly on 20 April.
In the document sent to the Madre de Dios prefecture, Mejía Huamán said that Ríos López approached him in a vehicle without license plates and reprimanded him for a photograph that had been published in “La Selva”. According to the journalist, Ríos López questioned his professionalism and told him to be careful, threatening both the journalist and his family and informing him of the legal action he had filed. Mejía Huamán filed a complaint about Ríos López’s actions with the Ombudsman’s Office.
Ríos López was summoned by the Madre de Dios prefecture, but failed to respond to the summons
Mejía Huamán noted that he is the third journalist to come under pressure in the region. The first was Luis Aguirre, who was illegally suspended from carrying out his work as a journalist for one year. Subsequently, he and Luis Puclla Luna each received letters from the regional authorities telling them to remove their signatures from a statement signed by eight journalists protesting against Ríos López’s mismanagement and corrupt practices.
