(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is concerned for the safety of Pablo Fernández, a contributor to Radio 41 and the daily “Primera Hora”. On 18 March 2005, the journalist received death threats in San José, southern Uruguay. “Fernández has been the target of steady intimidation over the past two years, on account of his investigations of corruption […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is concerned for the safety of Pablo Fernández, a contributor to Radio 41 and the daily “Primera Hora”. On 18 March 2005, the journalist received death threats in San José, southern Uruguay.
“Fernández has been the target of steady intimidation over the past two years, on account of his investigations of corruption involving local civil servants. He has now received a death threat, allegedly on the orders of an imprisoned civil servant. We condemn these moves and ask that an investigation be carried out to identify those responsible for the threats, including the detainee’s possible involvement in this affair,” the organisation said.
On the morning of 18 March, an unidentified person visited the “Primera Hora” newsroom in San José, saying he had a message for Fernández. The messenger warned the journalist that a hired assassin would be coming to execute him. He gave the killer’s name. The following afternoon, another person visited the newsroom and identified himself using the presumed assassin’s name. “The person assured me he had nothing to do with a contract on my life,” Fernández told RSF. The journalist believes Marianela Viana, a local civil servant who is currently incarcerated, is behind the threats. “How did she manage to send a message from her cell? How was the messenger contacted in order to reach me? This is what needs to be elucidated,” Fernández underlined.
Fernández and Viana have a longstanding dispute. The jailed civil servant is a former project director at Uruguay’s Institute for Children and Adolescents (Instituto de la Infancia y la Adolescencia Uruguaya, INAU).
In November 2002, a group of young workers who had received scholarships from the institute complained to the Labour Ministry that they were no longer receiving their subsidies. “Administrative and judicial inquiries subsequently revealed an embezzlement scandal. Four civil servants, including Marianela Viana, were suspended and punished,” Fernández explained. “The journalists who investigated this affair received repeated threats at the time. On several occasions, people came to the doorstep of my home and insulted and kicked me. Prior to her incarceration, Marianela Viana had tried to prevent the broadcast of a television programme on which I was asked to talk about the scandal,” the journalist added.
Fernández filed a complaint to which his visitor on the morning of 18 March made reference. The presumed assassin has since disappeared. A petition in support of Fernández is currently circulating within Uruguayan press circles.
