On Tuesday 4 January 2000, the security minister for Buenos Aires province, Aldo Rico, threatened and insulted a group of news photographers who were covering his visit to the Pinamar region. The official was disturbed by the presence of photographers María Eugenia Cerruti (“Clarín” newspaper), Facundo Pechervsky (“La Nacion” newspaper) and Federico Guastavino (“Noticias” magazine), […]
On Tuesday 4 January 2000, the security minister for Buenos Aires province, Aldo Rico, threatened and insulted a group of news photographers who were covering his visit to the Pinamar region.
The official was disturbed by the presence of photographers María Eugenia Cerruti (“Clarín” newspaper), Facundo Pechervsky (“La Nacion” newspaper) and Federico Guastavino (“Noticias” magazine), as he was preparing to leave the city by helicopter. Rico asked the journalists “Why do you want more photos?” and hurled vulgarities at them. When the journalists asked him why he was acting in this manner, the official accused them of publishing “lies and hypocrisies” and further threatened to send them “to the police station to prosecute [them].” He ended the dialogue when the journalists tried to remind him that four former Buenos Aires police officers are being tried in the case of José Luis Cabezas, who was assassinated three years ago in the city of Pinamar.
This is not the first time that Rico has taken advantage of a situation to discredit the press. Two weeks ago, he referred to employees of the “Clarín” daily as “miserable liers” after he was angered by one of the morning newspaper’s articles.
On the morning of 5 January, the governor of Buenos Aires province, Carlos Ruckauf, ordered Rico to publicly apologise to the journalists and warned him: “Your task is to prosecute criminals and not to pick fights with journalists. This kind of attitude will no longer be tolerated.”
Hours later, during a visit to the city of Bahía Blanca, Rico apologised to the reporters but denied having threatened them. “The whole thing was a misunderstanding,” he said.
PERIODISTAS, as well as a number of media, government officials and legislators, expressed their discontent over the incident. The organisation further called on Minister Rico to publicly apologise and to reexamine his response to the press’ demands, as his current attitude only serves to create a wall between citizens and the issues which interest them.
