Mayor insults journalist, expels her from public assembly

(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 24 April 1999, in the Sihuas province, department of Ancash, journalist Estela Alejos Alejos was verbally attacked and expelled from a public meeting by the Sihuas mayor, Hermenegildo Morillo Alejos. The journalist was at the Municipal Civic Centre to gather information on a public assembly called by the Sihuas […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 24 April 1999, in the Sihuas province,
department of Ancash, journalist Estela Alejos Alejos was verbally attacked
and expelled from a public meeting by the Sihuas mayor, Hermenegildo Morillo
Alejos. The journalist was at the Municipal Civic Centre to gather
information on a public assembly called by the Sihuas Provincial
Municipality on the topic of cattle rustling. Alejos is the editor of the
“El Chasqui” magazine and a correspondent with the newspapers “La Industria
de Chimbote” and “Prensa Regional de Huaraz”, and the radio stations Cora
and Ancash.

In a written report received by IPYS, Alejos stated that this was not the
first time that the mayor had treated her in this way. Incidents had
occurred in September 1998, during the electoral campaign, when the
journalist tried to interview the mayor about his candidacy for re-election,
and again in October, after the elections, when the re-elected mayor
received his accreditation.

According to the journalist, Morillo’s aggressive, intimidating and
threatening conduct is intended to shut her up because of her critical view
of the current municipal management – despite the fact that she is the only
journalist in the city informing objectively in the media where she works.

Given the mayor’s abusive and arrogant attitude, it is IPYS’s opinion that
he is violating the journalist’s rights and freedom to report and give her
opinion as an individual and as a journalist.

Recommended Action

Jorge Santistevan de Noriega

Ombudsman

Lima, Peru

Fax: +51 1 426 6657

Hermenegildo Morillo Alejos

Mayor of the Province of Sihuas

Fax: +51 44 74 1108