(AMARC/IFEX) – On 6 August 2008, a group of individuals linked to the Beni Civic Committee threatened and assaulted journalist Edwin Flores and seized some of his equipment. Flores works for Radio Patujú radio station, which is a member of the Bolivian Radiophonic Education (Educación Radiofónica de Bolivia, ERBOL) network. According to the ERBOL news […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – On 6 August 2008, a group of individuals linked to the Beni Civic Committee threatened and assaulted journalist Edwin Flores and seized some of his equipment. Flores works for Radio Patujú radio station, which is a member of the Bolivian Radiophonic Education (Educación Radiofónica de Bolivia, ERBOL) network.
According to the ERBOL news service, Flores was working at the Trinidad airport’s secondary entrance at the time of the incident. He was reporting on the actions of a group of demonstrators who were confronting the soldiers in charge of security at the airport when the demonstrators began to verbally attack him, telling him to stop his work.
When the demonstrators saw that Flores was continuing with his coverage, the attack became physical and they began to push, punch and kick him, according to information published on the ERBOL website ( http://www.erbol.com.bo ). They also took away his cell phone and he was forced to flee in order to stop the attack. That evening, a number of other individuals threatened him again.
According to ERBOL, a cameraman for the Channel 11 University Television station and a journalist from an independent programme were also harassed.
In a news release, Radio Patujú condemned the attack and said that it “will not file a criminal complaint against Flores’ attackers because it does not want to stoop to the same level as them.” It went on to say that this does not mean that station personnel are fearful, but rather that they will continue in their mission of informing the public without being pressured or swayed by the interests of particular sectors.
