(IPYS/IFEX) – Eduardo Geovanni Acate Coronel, host of the El Estelar programme broadcast on the Radio Oriente station in San Lorenzo, and the station’s director in San Lorenzo, in the Alto Marañon valley, near Yurimaguas, Loreto department, reported being verbally assaulted by the governor of the district of Barranca, Héctor Huansi. The incident occurred on […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Eduardo Geovanni Acate Coronel, host of the El Estelar programme broadcast on the Radio Oriente station in San Lorenzo, and the station’s director in San Lorenzo, in the Alto Marañon valley, near Yurimaguas, Loreto department, reported being verbally assaulted by the governor of the district of Barranca, Héctor Huansi. The incident occurred on 13 November 2000, while Acate and his colleague Marco Antonio Bisalote Ubillús were interviewing Huansi.
In a telephone interview with IPYS, Acate stated that on the day of the assault at about 7:30 p.m. (local time), Governor Huansi arrived at the radio station, asking to be allowed to go on the air to address the public. A time slot was cleared for him, but he was asked to return at 8:00 p.m., which was the pre-determined slot for news. The programme began with a few comments about the role that the press plays in Peru, but almost immediately the governor began to insult the journalists and say that “the press is utterly useless, particularly the press that does not agree with the current regime.”
According to Acate, the radio station often broadcasts news items which appear in the independent daily “El Comercio”, and two dailies which openly oppose the government, “La República” and “Liberacion”, all of which arrive in the region one day after they are published. “Héctor Huansi said very harsh things about the dailies, that they are tabloids used to deceive the people,” said Acate. Acate added that, upon hearing the governor’s statements, the two journalists asked the governor on the air to leave the Radio Oriente offices. In response, the governor threatened to file complaints against them and physically assault them with a microphone.
Nevertheless, a more serious incident occurred the next day, when the governor went to the offices of the regional government’s television station, Canal 10, where Bisalote Ubillús works, in order to ask the director to fire the journalist “because his editorial line is not allied with the government.” Thankfully, this request was not acted upon. Acate commended the functionary’s decision to not fire Bisalote Ubillús, a decision which demonstrated respect for the journalist’s views, and informed the director of the abuse of authority that Huansi had committed.
IPYS was unable to contact Huansi in order to get his version of the story. The organisation instead contacted the office of Loreto Region Prefect Marciano Riva Oyarce, to inform him of the incident and express concern over the attitude of his office’s representative in San Lorenzo.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– calling for an investigation into the incident and sanctions for the perpetrator
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
National Peruvian Police (PNP) Officer Fernando Dianderas Otonne
Minister of the Interior
Fax: +51 1 224 2405
Marciano Riva Oyarce
Loreto Region Prefect
Fax: +51 94 23 1072
PNP Officer Aurelio Herrera Rubianes
Chief of the Fifth Military Region of the PNP – Loreto
Fax: +51 94 23 1852
Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
