(IPYS/IFEX) – Radio journalist Néstor Puicón Ramos, aged 53, has asked for protection following the kidnapping of his 23-year-old daughter, Ana Raquel Puicón González. He is the director and host of the “Foro Radial” news programme, broadcast on Radio Señorial in the city of Huancayo, capital of Junín region. Puicón Ramos submitted the request to […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Radio journalist Néstor Puicón Ramos, aged 53, has asked for protection following the kidnapping of his 23-year-old daughter, Ana Raquel Puicón González. He is the director and host of the “Foro Radial” news programme, broadcast on Radio Señorial in the city of Huancayo, capital of Junín region. Puicón Ramos submitted the request to the Huancayo division of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) on 25 June 2003, five days after his daughter was kidnapped.
In an interview with IPYS, Puicón Ramos said that the investigation has still not uncovered any leads nor has he been granted protection. He explained that his daughter’s kidnapping was aimed at intimidating him and forcing him to abandon his journalistic work. He has been urging citizens to take a more active role in overseeing government activities.
Puicón Ramos told IPYS that on 20 June, at approximately 9:00 p.m. (local time), his daughter was walking home from university when she was intercepted in the street by three unknown individuals. The assailants covered her mouth and forced her into a vehicle. They then blindfolded her and sped off.
According to Puicón Ramos, the kidnappers made it clear that the kidnapping had nothing to do with his daughter but was a message aimed at the journalist who, they said, had been “talking nonsense” and “putting his nose where it did not belong.” Puicón Ramos added that on the afternoon of 21 June, his son received a telephone call from an anonymous individual who said that he hoped his father had “learned his lesson because something much worse could happen to him.”
Around noon the next day, the same person called the journalist’s home to repeat the threat and advise the journalist that his daughter was at Cerrito de La Libertad. Indeed, Puicón Ramos and his family members found his sedated daughter in the specified area. As Puicón Gonzalez later explained, the kidnappers had given her sedatives to stop her from screaming for help. On order of the police, the young woman underwent a number of medical examinations.
Puicón Ramos told IPYS that he has an idea of who might be behind the kidnapping. Some time ago, at the request of his listeners, the journalist had launched a campaign on his radio programme calling for a legal investigation of alleged irregularities at a local town council. Nevertheless, the journalist noted that it was up to the police and authorities to investigate and prosecute anyone found responsible. He added that the assailants would not succeed in silencing him because journalists “have a responsibility to inform the public and voice citizens’ demands.”
Puicón Ramos added that he was not alone in his struggle against government corruption, but had the support of organisations like IPYS who fight for freedom of expression and journalists’ safety.
