(IPYS/IFEX) – On 6 May 2005 journalist Luis Peña Vergaray and his translator, Eduardo Arrobo Samaniego, were taken hostage by the Aguarunas indigenous community of Pampa Entsa, in Condorcanqui province, Amazonas region, northeastern Peru. The group is asking the national government to send a commission to hear their demands for changes in their social conditions. […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 6 May 2005 journalist Luis Peña Vergaray and his translator, Eduardo Arrobo Samaniego, were taken hostage by the Aguarunas indigenous community of Pampa Entsa, in Condorcanqui province, Amazonas region, northeastern Peru. The group is asking the national government to send a commission to hear their demands for changes in their social conditions.
A government commission composed of representatives of the Police and the Ministry of the Interior was expected to arrive in the region on the afternoon of 9 May, barring weather problems. However, the Aguarunas say they will only agree to talk with the delegation if the latter agree to convey their demands to the government.
The day after he was taken hostage, Peña, who works in the nearby zone of Santa María de Nieva, was able to contact a local radio station. He told the station that until then he and his assistant had been incommunicado, but were in good shape. On 8 May, the community’s representative, Antonio Mayán Sejekam, who is also the president of the Numpatkaum and Alto Comainas indigenous communities’ development organisation, told the press that he would guarantee the physical safety of the hostages even if the negotiations do not take place.
On 9 May, the minister of the interior made the immediate release of both citizens a condition for entering into dialogue with the Aguarunas. However, the government commission has already departed for the region.
The journalist and his assistant were investigating the 21 April murder of four Health Ministry community outreach workers, apparently at the hands of local indigenous people who had kidnapped them.
IPYS condemns the fact that the journalist and his assistant have been taken hostage, a crime punishable under the Criminal Code by ten to fifteen years in prison.
