(IPYS/IFEX) – A private security guard of the Regional Hospital “Eleazar Guzman Barron”, in the coastal city of Chimbote, assaulted journalist Marco Villanueva Escobar while he was inside the hospital. Villanueva was left with a fractured bone in his left hand and lesions on his back and legs as a result of the assault carried […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – A private security guard of the Regional Hospital “Eleazar
Guzman Barron”, in the coastal city of Chimbote, assaulted journalist Marco
Villanueva Escobar while he was inside the hospital. Villanueva was left
with a fractured bone in his left hand and lesions on his back and legs as a
result of the assault carried out to prevent him from taking a photograph.
The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. (local time) on 5 September
1999. Villanueva, who works for the “Diario de Chimbote” daily, was in the
medicine pavilion of the hospital after interviewing a hospitalised elderly
newspaper vendor who lacked the economic resources needed for his treatment.
When the journalist was getting ready to photograph the patient, security
guard Zarate Valdivia approached him and violently stopped him from taking
photographs.
The guard shoved Villanueva out of the pavilion and, while the journalist
was distracted, he pushed him down the stairs, making him roll down the
steps from the second floor.
According to “Diario de Chimbote”, the attacker ran into his office where he
was hidden by fellow employees of the security company CERPEN, that began
servicing the hospital a few days ago.
IPYS became aware of this case through its correspondent in Chimbote,
Augusto Riera, and later confirmed the information through the “Diario de
Chimbote” director, Javier Pelaez Olortegui.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
requesting that the person responsible be sanctioned
Appeals To
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535Miguel Aljovín Swayne
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657Lieutenant General Fernando Dianderas Otonne
General Director of the Peruvian National Police
Fax: +51 1 225 1775Colonel Carlos Leon Romero
Regional Chief for Chimbote of the Peruvian National Police
Fax: +51 44 32 2861María del Socorro Sevillano
Director of the Regional Hospital “Eleazar Guzmán Barron”
Fax: +51 44 31 2021
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
