(IPYS/IFEX) – On 12 December 2000, Ángela Talledo, a photojournalist with the daily “Liberacion”, was assaulted by Delia Vergara, the Mayor of Chaclacayo, a district of Lima – who is connected with the Fuijimori-inspired Vamos Vecino political movement. The attack occurred while the journalist was engaged in professional work at the courthouse. At 9:10 a.m. […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 12 December 2000, Ángela Talledo, a photojournalist with the daily “Liberacion”, was assaulted by Delia Vergara, the Mayor of Chaclacayo, a district of Lima – who is connected with the Fuijimori-inspired Vamos Vecino political movement. The attack occurred while the journalist was engaged in professional work at the courthouse.
At 9:10 a.m. (local time), Vergara appeared with her lawyer at the entrance to Lima’s Thirty-Third Criminal Court, where Talledo was waiting for Julio Salazar Monroe, the former head of the National Intelligence Service (Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional, SIN), who was going to be questioned by judge Celinda Segura concerning investigations into arms trafficking to Colombian guerrillas. Talledo knew that Vergara was on her way to the Thirty-Fifth Criminal Court, where she was going to be questioned with regards to a suit against her for calling lawyer Marco Tulio Gutiérrez a “blackmailer”.
When she recognised the mayor, Talledo started to take photographs of her, which is what provoked the attack. Vergara hit the reporter repeatedly with a leather jacket after causing a minor injury to her arm. The attack ceased when other journalists, who happened to be in the area, came over to see what was happening.
Later that evening, at 7:35 p.m. (local time), Talledo was the victim of an unusual assault in which her photographic equipment was stolen. A man with a dark complexion and military demeanour held her at gunpoint between Lima’s Petit Thouars Avenue and Javier Prado Oeste Avenue. The assailant stole her Nikon FE-2 camera, an MD-2 motor, a Nikon 70210 telephoto lens with a 2.8 aperture and other two lenses, which had a total value of US$1,500. After taking the equipment, the man fled in a red car with tinted windows.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
- protesting the attacks on Talledo
- calling for an investigation of the robbery, in which her camera equipment was stolen, in order to identify and punish the perpetrators
Appeals To
Valentín Paniagua Corazao
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535
Walter Albán Peralta
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
General Gustavo Bravo Vargas
Director General of the Peruvian National Police
Fax: +51 1 225 1775
Delia Vergara
Mayor of the Chaclacayo Municipal District
Fax: +51 1497 1050
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
