The IAPA condemned a pre-dawn gun attack on the building of the newspaper "El Siglo de Torreón".
(IAPA/IFEX) – MIAMI, Florida (August 18, 2009) -The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) forcefully condemned a pre-dawn gun attack today on the building of the newspaper El Siglo de Torreón in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
The newspaper reported that around 1:00 a.m. unidentified assailants sprayed the building with high-caliber bullets as employees were working in the pressroom.
The entrance doors were almost completely destroyed, shattering glass panes and impacting walls and furniture inside. Police recovered dozens of spent AK-47 and AR-15 shell cases. No one was injured in the attack.
IAPA President Enrique Santos Calderón, editor of the Bogotá, Colombia, newspaper El Tiempo, condemned the attack on the newspaper, declaring that “violence is the method used by criminal elements to silence the news media, create anxiety and self-censorship so that the people are kept in the dark.” He added, “We trust that the authorities will investigate and punish those responsible for this action, as impunity only generates more violence.”
