(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 23 March 2004, intruders entered the Calienta Negros hill area, where the antennas and transmission equipment of several media outlets are located, and broke into Radio Líder radio station’s transmission shed. Radio Líder is a leading news broadcaster in Ilo province, on Peru’s southern coast. On the morning of […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 23 March 2004, intruders entered the Calienta Negros hill area, where the antennas and transmission equipment of several media outlets are located, and broke into Radio Líder radio station’s transmission shed. Radio Líder is a leading news broadcaster in Ilo province, on Peru’s southern coast.
On the morning of 23 March, Omar Pari Díaz, a journalist and Radio Líder’s director, reported the incident to the Ilo Provincial Police, after confirming the break-in at the shed housing the equipment that allows the radio to relay its signal.
In order to remove the transmission equipment, the intruders had to force their way through iron bars, break four locks and pry open a reinforced metal door. Pari Díaz told IPYS that numerous robberies in the area had led the station to increase security measures to protect the equipment. However, these precautions proved to be insufficient.
The journalist said he suspects that Ilo’s mayor, Jorge Mendoza Pérez, may be behind the incident. He noted that Radio Líder has criticised Mendoza’s administration, reporting on acts of corruption, nepotism, environmental destruction and other controversial issues, such as the torching of two municipal buses. Pari Díaz said the mayor has filed several lawsuits against him for “slander” and “defamation”. Pari Díaz’s suggestion that the mayor may be behind the incident is, however, only a suspicion and does not constitute a formal accusation since there is no evidence to back the allegation.
