(IPYS/IFEX) – On 13 September 2000, Prosecutor Jorge Correa Alcántara, accompanied by representatives of the Requena Municipality and the National Police, confiscated the loudspeaker system which radio journalist Luis Gastelú Rodríguez was using. The prosecutor argued that the journalist was operating without the proper licence and permit from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Requena […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 13 September 2000, Prosecutor Jorge Correa Alcántara, accompanied by representatives of the Requena Municipality and the National Police, confiscated the loudspeaker system which radio journalist Luis Gastelú Rodríguez was using. The prosecutor argued that the journalist was operating without the proper licence and permit from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Requena is a district located near the city of Iquitos, in the Loreto department.
Gastelú Rodríguez is the host and director of the Hora siete programme, which is broadcast via a loudspeaker system, owned by engineer Antonio Sinakay, in Loreto. The journalist asserts having been continually harassed by the mayor of Requena, Juan Amasifuen Laulate. Mary Pérez Cora, IPYS correspondent in the region, reported that, prior to the confiscation of the equipment, on one occasion there was an attempt to rob the speakers and set fire to the wooden installation.
Gastelú Rodríguez maintains that the loudspeakers system, known as “The Voice of the People” (“La Voz del Pueblo”), was the only opposition medium in the region, as the conventional television and radio stations have obligations to the municipality. On 11 September, the journalist filed a complaint after he was severely beaten by four individuals, whom he identified as employees of the Requena District Municipality office. Gastelú Rodríguez asserts that on that occasion, his attackers severely reprimanded him for continually questioning the management of Mayor Amasifuen Laulate, who is a member of the governing party.
Subsequent to the confiscation of the loudspeakers system, Gastelú Rodríguez filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office in Maynas and the police.
In an interview with IPYS, the mayor stated that the incidents occurred in his absence, as at the time he was in Lima on official business as mayor. Nevertheless, he acknowledged the equipment’s confiscation, although he noted that this had been the result of a decision by the prosecutor. He further noted that Gastelú Rodríguez tried to blackmail him for economic gains, and when this proved unsuccessful the journalist began to defame him. Prosecutor Correa Alcántara has not commented on the case.
Pérez Cora noted that the Iquitos media reported extensively on the case and that, via his programme La Razon, journalist James Beusewille Zumaeta urged the Journalists’ College and the Loreto Departmental Council to publicly denounce the incident.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– asking for an investigation into the matter and that those responsible for the harassment against the journalist be punished
– asking for guarantees that the journalist will be able to freely exercise his profession
– protesting the confiscation of the radio equipment
– requesting that the documents which Gastelú Rodríguez submitted be reviewed and evaluated
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
Ing. Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535
Dr. Federico Salas Guevara Shultz
President of the Council of Ministers
Fax: +51 1 447 1628 / 475 0689
Dr. Blanca Nélida Colán
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474
Dr. Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
