(IPYS/IFEX) – Early on the morning of 11 October 2005, a group of unknown individuals doused the entrance of Radio Panorama station in the city of Andahuaylas, Apurímac region, southeastern Peru, with a combustible fuel. The liquid spread into the station through a grate. The assailants did not set fire to the building. Later that […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Early on the morning of 11 October 2005, a group of unknown individuals doused the entrance of Radio Panorama station in the city of Andahuaylas, Apurímac region, southeastern Peru, with a combustible fuel. The liquid spread into the station through a grate. The assailants did not set fire to the building. Later that same morning, the station’s owners filed a complaint with the Andahuaylas police after being informed of the incident by a station technician.
Journalist Ronald Ripa, Radio Panorama manager and a correspondent for Ideeleradio, told IPYS that he was not aware who was behind the threats. However, he noted that the station had condemned corruption within the Apurímac regional government and had also made its position known on an upcoming referendum to determine whether Apurímac will join another region. Ripa also did not dismiss the possibility that members of the city’s Nationalist Movement (Movimiento Nacionalista Etnocacerista) might be behind the attack. According to the journalist, Radio Panorama refused to submit to a recent demand by the group that the station give preferential coverage to the arrival of their leader to Andahuaylas, where he was to go on trial for the murder of several police officers.
That same morning, unknown individuals stole transmission cables belonging to the Americana, Andahuaylas and NCN radio stations, all of which are based in Andahuaylas. The motive for the robberies is unknown. The stations mostly broadcast music and entertainment programmes and do not report on the news.
