(IPYS/IFEX) – On 4 August 1999, Carlos Manuel Rosas Matos, director of the “Tigre Informa” news programme broadcast on radio “Tigre”, stated that his programme was arbitrarily closed because of his reports on incidences of nepotism in the Fifth Military Region. Rosas noted that before this measure was enforced, the directors of the radio station, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 4 August 1999, Carlos Manuel Rosas Matos, director of the
“Tigre Informa” news programme broadcast on radio “Tigre”, stated that his
programme was arbitrarily closed because of his reports on incidences of
nepotism in the Fifth Military Region.
Rosas noted that before this measure was enforced, the directors of the
radio station, located in the Amazonian town of Iquitos, had been pressured
by the military to stop their employees from reporting on crimes committed
by military commanders.
On 26 July, Rosas and the co-director of the programme, Luis Chanamé, read
out and discussed a 25 July article published in the opposition newspaper
“La República”. The article accused the chief of the Fifth Military Region,
General Enrique Sotero Navarro, of nepotism.
Rosas had to obtain a copy of the article from the Internet because, on 25
July, no copies of “La República” appeared in the Iquitos kiosks. According
to some newspaper vendors, all copies of that day’s edition were purchased
in the early morning by military personnel. It was precisely the fact that
the newspapers were missing from the kiosks that prompted Rosas to verify
their contents. Once he realised their importance, he decided to disseminate
the information in his news programme.
During the broadcast, the station’s assistant manager, Herbart Tuesta
Cárdenas, warned the journalists that their programme would be cancelled if
they did not “change the tone” of their reports; in other words, if they did
not stop suggesting that the military was involved in criminal activities.
Rosas ignored the warning and, as a result, his programme was taken off the
air on the following day.
According to Rosas, on 26 August, a group of military personnel visited the
offices of the radio station to try to coerce its managers and silence the
newscast. Rosas noted that the military had also been bothered by reports of
a secret meeting of the military command allegedly held on 7 June in the
army’s headquarters in Lima. During the meeting, the military had evaluated
the political tendencies and the docility of the different Iquitos media.
On 22 June, Rosas publicised a document, allegedly written by an army
general with the surname Vargas, which had been presented during the
meeting. The document stated that “Tigre Informa” is considered “dangerous”
to the interests of the armed forces and carries the stigma of being
associated with the Patriotic Front (Frente Patriotico), the Iquitos
opposition movement. The document further accused Rosas of being a militant
communist, but also stated that the news programme was in a vulnerable
position and could easily be “neutralised” by pressuring the station’s
managers, a tactic which they had reason to believe would prove successful.
On 17 July, “La República” published a special report on the aforementioned
secret meeting and included a copy of a fax sent by then general commander
of the Peruvian army, General César Saucedo Sánchez, to the commanders of
the various military districts, inviting them to the meeting. The fax
revealed that the goal of the meeting was to evaluate the different media in
the country (see IFEX alert of 20 July 1999).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Appeals To
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535José Villanueva Ruesta
Military General Commander
Fax: +51 1 436 1423 / 435 4623General Carlos Bergamino Cruz
Minister of Defense
Fax: +51 1 433 6906Miguel Aljovín Swayne
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657Santiago Cárdenas Rojas
Radio Tigre manager
Tel: +51 94 22 2197
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
