(IPYS/IFEX) – On 17 and 18 March 2007, “La Verdad” newspaper news director José Gregorio Meza received threatening telephone calls for having reported on cases of child pornography in the city of Maracaibo, Zulia state, in the country’s west. He was warned that he was being watched. The threats were in relation to a report […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 17 and 18 March 2007, “La Verdad” newspaper news director José Gregorio Meza received threatening telephone calls for having reported on cases of child pornography in the city of Maracaibo, Zulia state, in the country’s west. He was warned that he was being watched.
The threats were in relation to a report published in the newspaper on 14 March in which city councillor Juan Montiel complained that videos and photographs of children and adolescents studying in the Maracaibo region’s schools were being sold in several areas of the city. The images show them kissing each other and in erotic poses. The complaint was based on a study by Montiel that documents how child pornography rings are operating in the state, in violation of the Organic Law for the Protection of the Child and Adolescent (Ley Orgánica de Protección al Niño y al Adolescente).
The journalist told IPYS that he will continue reporting on the case, despite the threats.
