(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 23 April 2004, journalists with the online news agency Indymedia Argentina told PERIODISTAS they are concerned about the harassment of one of their colleagues in Orán, Salta province, in northern Argentina. On 1 April, journalist Pablo Badano and Horacio Guzmán, a leader of the Guaraní indigenous community Estación El Tabacal, were detained […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 23 April 2004, journalists with the online news agency Indymedia Argentina told PERIODISTAS they are concerned about the harassment of one of their colleagues in Orán, Salta province, in northern Argentina.
On 1 April, journalist Pablo Badano and Horacio Guzmán, a leader of the Guaraní indigenous community Estación El Tabacal, were detained by six provincial police officers and held for one day.
Orán police officials told PERIODISTAS that Badano was detained as part of a routine procedure. “Strangers who come into the area are detained while a background check is run on them. Now that we have information about his identity, he’ll be able to move around without any problems,” they said.
Badano had gone to the region to report on Estación El Tabacal’s situation. The community has been engaged in a conflict with the American company Seaboard Corporation and is demanding the return of 5000 hectares of land that were taken from the community for the company’s mill.
The journalist said that, on 5 April, immediately after he had finished talking about his arrest with Santa Clara de Asis radio station in Hipólito Irigoyen, local political leaders said, on the same programme, that the journalist “was demonstrating a lack of respect for the people of the area by telling lies” and that they would “make him be more respectful.”
In a press release, Indymedia Argentina said they have decided to continue covering issues in the area. “We believe that this is our duty as journalists, and we are not going to stop reporting even if they continue to threaten and detain us. We will hold Seaboard Corporation, the Salta provincial government and the provincial police responsible for the safety of our colleagues who work in the area,” they said.
