(IPYS/IFEX) – On 11 October 1998 after the municipal elections, Enrique Gutiérrez, the re-elected mayor of the city of Camaná (department of Arequipa,) and a group of his supporters burst in and smashed up the offices of the radio station Radio Armonía. Gutiérrez also uttered insults and death threats against station manager Alfredo Del Carpio […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 11 October 1998 after the municipal elections, Enrique
Gutiérrez, the re-elected mayor of the city of Camaná (department of
Arequipa,) and a group of his supporters burst in and smashed up the
offices of the radio station Radio Armonía. Gutiérrez also uttered insults
and death threats against station manager Alfredo Del Carpio Linares, who
was out of the office at the time covering a story in another part of the
city. According to Del Carpio Linares, who is also the director of the news
programme “Veredicto, la voz del pueblo de Camaná,” police did nothing to
stop Gutiérrez and his supporters, although the radio station is metres
away from the police station. Aside from making his threats against Del
Carpio public, he gave him eight days to leave the city.
Del Carpio is currently under police protection. However, since Camaná
police did not grant his repeated requests for protection, he is under the
guard of the Arequipa police force. Del Carpio believes National Police
Colonel Hipolito Guillén Barrera, district chief of police in Camaná, is in
collusion with Gutiérrez.
Del Carpio expressed fears to IPYS that at any moment there could be an
attempt on his life or on the life of someone close to him. He believes he
is threatened in retaliation for reports which fundamentally questioned the
mayor’s administration.
On 18 November, Del Carpio gives his first statement to Camaná criminal
court judge Antonio Valdivia García in a case the journalist has brought
against Gutiérrez.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities below:
case follow norms of due and fair process
Appeals To
National Police Colonel Hipolito Guillén Barrera
District Chief of Police, National Police, Camaná
Camaná, Arequipa, Peru
Fax: +511 54 571166Dr. Antonio Valdivia García
Judge
Camaná criminal court
Camaná, Arequipa, Peru
Fax: +511 54 572373Dr. Rolando Luque Mogrovejo
Representative of Ombudman’s Office in Arequipa
Fax: +511 54 282878Fernando Dianderas
Director-General of the National Police
Lima, Peru
Fax: +511 2251775
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
