(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 5 December 2002, Pablo García, editor of the political section of the daily “El Territorio”, published in Misiones province, was assaulted by Oberá Mayor Rodolfo Dalmau and several bodyguards. The incident occurred during a visit to the province by former president and current presidential candidate Carlos Menem. Oberá is a town in […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 5 December 2002, Pablo García, editor of the political section of the daily “El Territorio”, published in Misiones province, was assaulted by Oberá Mayor Rodolfo Dalmau and several bodyguards. The incident occurred during a visit to the province by former president and current presidential candidate Carlos Menem. Oberá is a town in Misiones province.
The attack occurred moments after García asked Menem “if he thought it ethical to participate in a campaign for president while legal action is pending against him.” The question infuriated Dalmau, who, along with Menem’s bodyguards, assaulted García. The mayor, who had organised Menem’s visit to Oberá, accused the journalist of having been sent by Ramon Puerta, the Justicialista Party’s (PJ) principal figure in the province. Puerta is considered to have ties to another wing within the PJ. According to García, while he was under attack, the wife of Menem’s running-mate, Juan Carlos Romero, shouted insults at him.
A few days later, Dalmau denied that the journalist had been assaulted, although he did acknowledge that there had been a verbal altercation. The mayor stated he intended to send García a letter stating, “If there was physical aggression, no other journalist [present] defended him.”
This is the seventh time in a little over a year that individuals linked to Menem have attacked journalists during a public event (see IFEX alert of 22 November 2002 and others). PERIODISTAS sent García a letter of support, which included a list of reporters who were struck, threatened and insulted during this time.
