(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 September 1999, journalist Reynaldo Benavides Ramos was threatened by an armed individual. Benavides is the director and host of the “La Hora Clave” programme, broadcast on Radio Luren, in the coastal city of Ica, south of Lima. He received the death threat after reporting on his programme that José Luis Huasasquiche, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 September 1999, journalist Reynaldo Benavides Ramos was
threatened by an armed individual. Benavides is the director and host of the
“La Hora Clave” programme, broadcast on Radio Luren, in the coastal city of
Ica, south of Lima. He received the death threat after reporting on his
programme that José Luis Huasasquiche, the owner of a computing institute
and the company Data Sistem, was involved in the attempted assassination of
Peter Mayer, Benavides’ colleague.
As he was leaving from the radio station and was on his way home, Benavides
was intercepted by three unknown persons, one of whom punched him and
pointed a gun towards him, warning that he was going to die “if he kept
getting mixed up in Huasasquiche’s business.”
After the incident, Benavides asked the Ica prefect to guarantee his safety
and was assigned around the clock police protection.
In a telephone conversation with IPYS, Benavides stated that he has access
to documents and witnesses to support his accusations. The journalist fears
for his life because he is aware that Mayer had had a similar experience and
afterwards came very close to being assassinated.
