(IPYS/IFEX) – Johnny Pezo, host of the radio programme La Revista del Mazaterillo (The Mazaterillo Review) broadcast on Radio Panamericana, in the city of Yurimaguas, reported to IPYS that he has been intimidated by members of the Peruvian National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP), since reporting on his programme on a drug bust carried […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Johnny Pezo, host of the radio programme La Revista del Mazaterillo (The Mazaterillo Review) broadcast on Radio Panamericana, in the city of Yurimaguas, reported to IPYS that he has been intimidated by members of the Peruvian National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP), since reporting on his programme on a drug bust carried out by the police.
Adolfo Fasanando, IPYS correspondent in Tarapoto, reported that both Pezo and Rusber Pinedo Burga, director of the programme Punto de opinion (Point of view), were cited by the Yurimaguas branch of the PNP on 26 September 2000. Subsequently, Fasanando added, they were confronted by the alleged drug traffickers who were captured in the anti-drug operation the two journalists had reported on.
According to Fasanando, who travelled to Yurimaguas, the police operation was carried out on 20 September, at which time police officers detained seven alleged drug traffickers and reportedly seized 58 kilograms of cocaine paste. In their programmes, the journalists said that 70 kilograms of the drug had been impounded.
After providing his initial testimony, Pezo was required to sign a document which commits him to appearing in court while the case is being considered.
When questioned by IPYS, Drug Enforcement Attorney for San Martín Leonardo Leo Mendoza said that Pinedo had been excused from the case because the journalist recognised that he had prematurely reported on rumours about the quantity of drugs seized by the police. In contrast, Pezo, the attorney explained, was still implicated in the case because he continued to defend the version of events as he reported on them, which, were it to be true, would implicate the police officers who participated in the operation and the attorney who had been in charge. Leo Mendoza further noted that Pezo’s testimony contained a number of contradictory statements and that the journalist had tried to defend one of those detained, accusing the police and the attorney’s office of targetting very humble and poor persons. According to Leo Mendoza, it could be presumed from the journalist’s attitude that he knew one of the detained drug traffickers, and this would explain his confrontation with them.
Nevertheless, Pezo’s report to IPYS completely contradicts the attorney’s version. Pezo asserts that, similarly to Pinedo, he has recognised that he rushed ahead and reported on unsubstantiated information based on rumours circulating in the streets of Yurimaguas. As for his supposed defense of one of the detained, the journalist insists that at no time did he claim one of them was innocent. “The only thing I did was to have one of the alleged drug trafficker’s family members on my programme, and they claimed that he was innocent. What I did do was call on the authorities to ensure that the case is fairly dealt with,” Pezo stated.
The journalist has condemned the confrontation he was subject to and the fact that he was treated like a delinquent as shameful. He views the incident as a threat against his life and a “message” intended to intimidate and frighten all Yurimaguas journalists.
In a 29 September public statement, the Yurimaguas branch of the National Journalists’ Association (Asociacion Nacional de Periodistas, ANP), expressed its disapproval over the actions taken against the cited journalists, calling these acts “an attack on the free exercise of the [journalistic] profession and freedom of expression”. The organisation urged PNP Commander Freddy Díaz Carrillo and Drug Enforcement Attorney Leo Mendoza to have greater respect for journalists’ rights.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– protesting the fact the journalists were placed in a vulnerable position in front of the drug traffickers and noting the risk that they could face as the result of this action
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
Ing. Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535
Dr. Federico Salas Guevara Shultz
President of the Council of Ministers
Fax: +51 1 447 1628 / 475 0689
Lieutenant General Fernando Dianderas Otonne
Director General of the Peruvian National Police
Fax: +51 1 225 1775
Dr. Blanca Nélida Colán
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474
Dr. Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
