(IPYS/IFEX) – On 7 September 2005, Julia Saldaña Eguren, a journalist with the “La República” group of newspapers, reported having received several death threats since August. The anonymous warnings are sent as text messages to her father’s mobile phone. The journalist is based in the city of Iquitos, Loreto region, eastern Peru. Saldaña told IPYS […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 7 September 2005, Julia Saldaña Eguren, a journalist with the “La República” group of newspapers, reported having received several death threats since August. The anonymous warnings are sent as text messages to her father’s mobile phone. The journalist is based in the city of Iquitos, Loreto region, eastern Peru.
Saldaña told IPYS that the messages say she will be murdered unless she leaves the city. According to the journalist, the threats began after the publication of a series of articles revealing irregularities in Loreto’s regional government, the Maquía district municipality, and in the construction of Iquitos’s new stadium. On 12 September, Saldaña spotted a suspicious pickup truck near her house.
The journalist approached the regional office of the National Crime Division for help but was told that she had to provide a record of the received calls from the telephone company before they could proceed. The messages are sent from an Internet café.
