(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of the Basque Country government Juan José Ibarretxe and President of the National Basque Party (PNV) Xabier Arzallus, RSF strongly protested the bomb attack against journalist Carlos Herrera, in Seville (south of Spain). According to RSF, “this particularly despicable terrorist action, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of the Basque Country government Juan José Ibarretxe and President of the National Basque Party (PNV) Xabier Arzallus, RSF strongly protested the bomb attack against journalist Carlos Herrera, in Seville (south of Spain). According to RSF, “this particularly despicable terrorist action, threatens the security of all Spanish journalists.” “We are once again expressing our strong concern about the degradation of journalists’ working conditions in the Spanish Basque country,” stated Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general. RSF also reminded them that “a number of Basque leaders and intellectuals have recently made threatening remarks against the press, which have created a climate which fosters such actions.” “We call on the Basque Country’s authorities to instantly distance themselves from such threats and to firmly condemn this terrorist act,” added the organisation. In conclusion, RSF asked the minister of the interior to “personally take every measure necessary to ensure the security of journalists in the country.”
According to information obtained by RSF, on 27 March 2000, a parcel bomb was sent to journalist Herrera at the offices of the Spanish National Radio in Seville. The explosive was concealed in a box of cigars addressed to Herrera. The journalist was suspicious because of the parcel’s weight, and was able to inform the police, who managed to defuse the bomb.
This bomb attempt follows the 21 March bomb explosion which occurred outside the home of journalist Pedro Briongos’s parents (see IFEX alert of 22 March 2000). Briongos is a correspondent with the daily “El Correo”, in Bilbao (northern part of the country). No one was hurt in the explosion, which damaged the door and the stairway of their house. The Spanish authorities believe the perpetrators are linked to the Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA). In a public “Manifesto” released on 18 February in San Sébastian, the organisation’s sympathisers called for the boycott of a number of national media, including the dailies “El Correo”, “El Diario Vasco” and “El Diario de Navarra”. The following day, the president of the nationalist PNV, Arzallus, went to a number of media outlets, most notably the newspapers “El Correo”, “El Pais” and “ABC”, and accused certain journalists of being “Basque anti-nationalists”.
