(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – Photojournalists Daniel Barreto and Mastrangelo de Paula Reino of the daily “Tribuna Impressa”, based in Araraquara, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, have reported that on 31 January 2002 certain individuals beat them and damaged their photographic equipment. The incident occurred when the two journalists tried to photograph a local government official […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – Photojournalists Daniel Barreto and Mastrangelo de Paula Reino of the daily “Tribuna Impressa”, based in Araraquara, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, have reported that on 31 January 2002 certain individuals beat them and damaged their photographic equipment. The incident occurred when the two journalists tried to photograph a local government official who was having dinner with a group of businessmen.
The journalists went to an Araraquara restaurant where they had been told that Ademir de Souza, president of the Araraquara Prefecture’s Bidding Commission (Comisión de Licitaciones), was dining with representatives of a company awarded a contract to collect garbage.
When Barreto and Reino began taking photographs of the meeting, the dinner guests were startled. Some immediately left the restaurant while others lunged at the journalists. As Barreto and Reino later recounted, Barreto was threatened by Luiz Wolgran Teixeira Ferreira, lawyer and consultant for the prefecture. He was also warned by a judge named Júlio César de Carvalho that a legal action would be launched against him. Upon being confronted in this manner, the journalists agreed to erase the images recorded on their digital cameras.
Reino was punched in the mouth and kicked in the legs by João Corrêa da Paixão, an individual who at first identified himself as a bodyguard but in fact is an employee of the Jual Prestação de Serviços e Obras company. Adriana Silva, political and urban affairs editor for “Tribuna Impressa”, informed PERIODISTAS that the Jual company bid for publicly owned sites. Corrêa was prevented from beating Reino but damaged his camera by throwing it to the ground.
Because Corrêa’s was at the dinner, “Tribuna Impressa” director Antonio Carlos Pereira de Almeida was able to deduce that the businessmen at the restaurant did not represent the company that was awarded the garbage collection contract. Meanwhile, government official de Souza stated that he only dropped by the restaurant and was not dining there, nor did he know any of the other individuals who were there that day.
Local Prefect Edinho Silva told the press that he believed de Souza’s version and that there was no proof against Wolgran. Indeed, the photographs were erased from the journalists’ digital cameras. Nevertheless, the prefect sent the Jual company a letter requesting that Corrêa be removed from his post while an investigation into the incident is carried out.
On 5 February, the journalists announced that a criminal action had been launched against their attackers. The journalists received the support of the National Newspaper Association (ANJ, from its Portuguese acronym), which favours a police investigation and exemplary sanctions against the assailants, and the Sao Paulo Newspaper Association (Asociación Paulista de Periódicos, APJ). The APJ found it “inconceivable that some individuals act in this manner, after such a hard struggle to establish citizens’ rights in the country.”
