(IPYS/IFEX) – The harassment of journalist Isaac GarcÃa in Tarapoto (in Peru’s jungle region) has been escalating. **Updates IFEX alert of 30 September 1998** In September 1998, GarcÃa went public with his tape recording of an August speech given in Tarapoto in which the President of the Council of Ministers, González Reategui, openly supported candidates […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The harassment of journalist Isaac GarcÃa in Tarapoto (in
Peru’s jungle region) has been escalating.
**Updates IFEX alert of 30 September 1998**
In September 1998, GarcÃa went public with his tape recording of an August
speech given in Tarapoto in which the President of the Council of Ministers,
González Reategui, openly supported candidates of the pro-government party
Vamos Vecino in the municipal elections of 11 October 1998. The popular
television news programme Contrapunto aired an interview with GarcÃa and the
Lima newspaper El Comercio also printed a piece. As well, on 25 September,
GarcÃa gave a press conference in which he played the tape; the press
conference was widely covered on the news programmes of almost all the
television networks. That same day, an opposition member of Congress had
played the tape to a Congressional committee (see IFEX alert.) As a result
of all this, the incumbent (then Tarapoto’s mayor and candidate for the
government-supported Vamos Vecino party) was not reelected, and Reategui had
to leave his post as President of the Council of Ministers.
Since then, the harassment of GarcÃa has been worsening. According to
journalist, at a Vamos Vecino candidateâs meeting prior to the elections,
there were posters carrying threats to GarcÃa. On 12 October, a day after
the municipal elections, GarcÃa received a death threat over the telephone.
The week before, he was fired from Radio Siglo XXI, where he had been
working. According to IPYS’ information, he was fired due to pressure from
the government. On 13 October, GarcÃa received a harsh phone call in which
he was insulted and his life was again threatened in revenge, the caller
stated, for the loss of the elections.
IPYS is in continued contact with GarcÃa, who has not ruled out the
possibility that he will be forced to leave Tarapoto in order to ensure his
safety.
