Fernando Valverde, a journalist who works for several media outlets, reported to IPYS that he has received death threats from people close to the governor of the town of Llumpa, Martín Del Río Jiménez, after the reporter uncovered a series of accusations of domestic violence against the official.
On 19 July 2013, Fernando Valverde, a journalist who works for several media outlets, reported to IPYS that he has received death threats from people close to the governor of the town of Llumpa, Martín Del Río Jiménez, after the reporter uncovered a series of accusations of domestic violence against the official. The incident took place in Pomabamba, Ancash region, in northeastern Peru.
Valverde reported the accusations made by Nila Victoria Roque Vergaray, Del Río’s former partner, who was hit several times and even threatened with death to prevent her from going to trial to request alimony payments from the governor. After the last beating, Roque Vergaray had to be hospitalized for fear she would miscarry.
When she went to file a formal complaint with the police in Pomabamba she was told her case could not be admitted for “lack of evidence”.
Roque Vergaray requested the journalist’s help. Valverde aided the injured party by publishing more accusations, exerting pressure on the police and helping her go to the Ombudsman in Ancash, who acted immediately along with the Public Prosecutor to open an investigation against the governor. Del Río has also been accused of physical abuse by an alleged lover.
The journalist has been threatened with death since then. Valverde is currently in Lima and is afraid to go back home. The messages he has received state that he will be beaten and killed if he returns.
IPYS urgently calls the Ministry of Interior to sanction Governor Martín Del Río Jiménez and remove him from office.
