(IPYS/IFEX) – Alexander Carbajal Soto, director general of the news bulletin Sentinel: News Witness (Centinela: Testigo de la Noticia), broadcast by radio Éxito in Cerro de Pasco, denounced the pressures, threats and harassment to which he and his team of reporters have been subjected. The group consists of members of the “Objective XXI” Association of […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Alexander Carbajal Soto, director general of the news bulletin Sentinel: News Witness (Centinela: Testigo de la Noticia), broadcast by radio Éxito in Cerro de Pasco,
denounced the pressures, threats and harassment to which he and his team of reporters have been subjected.
The group consists of members of the “Objective XXI” Association of Social Communicators, as well as students and alumni from the Daniel Alcides Carrion National University’s (Universidad Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrion, UNDAC) Professional School of Communication Sciences in Cerro de Pasco. They started the Sentinel: News Witness bulletin one month ago, and ever since the programme began, they have been receiving constant telephone threats and anonymous intimidating letters.
On 14 August 2000, Carbajal Soto was attacked by two people who were travelling in a red 4×4 pick-up truck. In addition to attacking him physically, the assailants warned him that his days “were numbered” and that at any moment, they would “shut his trap”. Fortunately, a neighbor came over at an opportune moment, and the attackers fled.
In a report provided to IPYS, Carbajal Soto stated that he had denounced the case of Pedro Charry on the radio programme. Charry is a student at the local university who is being questioned about committing “negative acts” against certain students, as well as a May 1999 car accident which resulted in the death of one person.
Carbajal noted that on the day of the attack, certain irregularities in the Regional Labour Bureau (Direccion Regional de Trabajo) were also condemned on the radio programme. Carbajal has not ruled out the possibility that one of the people mentioned on the programme could be complicit in the attack.
Furthermore, Carbajal noted that an offer was made to buy the same air space his programme uses, and publicity was offered to the broadcaster, Radio Éxito, in an attempt to get the radio programme off the air.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
- asking that the sources of the threats be investigated and that the perpetrators be punished
- calling for the safety of the journalist to be guaranteed, as well as his right to exercise journalism freely
Appeals To
Flavio Cleiton Galván Vento
Prefect of Cerro de Pasco
Fax: +51 64 72 2660
Oscar Ponce de Leon Rivera
Chief of the Cerro de Pasco National Police
Fax: +51 64 72 2326
Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
