(PFC/IFEX) – On 5 January 2003, unknown individuals set fire to journalist Julio Gomez’s car. The assailants had previously attempted to burn down the journalist’s home in Pedernales province, in the country’s south-western region, near the Haitian border. Goméz is a correspondent for the Telemicro Canal 5 television station and “Hoy” newspaper. He also manages […]
(PFC/IFEX) – On 5 January 2003, unknown individuals set fire to journalist Julio Gomez’s car. The assailants had previously attempted to burn down the journalist’s home in Pedernales province, in the country’s south-western region, near the Haitian border.
Goméz is a correspondent for the Telemicro Canal 5 television station and “Hoy” newspaper. He also manages the programme “Pedernales y su Desarrollo”, which airs Monday to Friday on Radio Pedernales, 1560 KHz (AM) and 99.3 MHz (FM).
According to the journalist, a group of beneficiaries of minibuses delivered by the government under the Public Transportation Vehicles Renovation Plan (Plan de Renovacion de Vehículos del Transporte Público, RENOVE) is reportedly behind the attack. On several occasions, Gomez has reported on irregularities at RENOVE, which is trying to respond to the crisis in the fragile public transportation system.
In a separate incident, on 20 December 2002, unknown individuals broke one of the windows of journalist Ramon Lora’s car in Santo Domingo. The journalist believes he was targeted in retaliation for publishing a letter in “Listín Diario” on 19 December in which he criticised the government for not confronting the country’s problems “courageously and decisively.”
On 24 December, the Environment and Natural Resources secretary accused the director of “Listín Diario” of mounting a “persistent campaign of lies, defamation and misinformation,” for having published reports and editorials on the illegal extraction of sand from the Baní dunes, a protected area (see IFEX alert of 2 January 2003).
PFC condemns the attacks and urges local and international organisations that defend human rights and promote freedom of expression to raise their voices against the harassment faced by Dominican journalists.
In November, Dominican Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa said, “in Latin America, and especially in the Dominican Republic, there is a lack of courage and decisiveness to confront corruption.” PFC feels that the attacks against journalists seek solely to undermine the “courage and decisiveness” that the country’s independent media and journalists demonstrate by exposing corruption through their investigations and reports.
For further information on the case, see:
http://portal-pfc.org/perseguidos/2003/001.html
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the National Police chief:
– urging him to ensure that Pedernales police officers thoroughly investigate the attack against Gomez, and police in Santo Domingo do the same concerning Lora
– calling for investigations in both cases that result in the capture and bringing to justice of the perpetrators
Appeals To
Major General Jaime Marte Martínez
National Police Chief
Tel: +809 685 2020 / 685 2088 / 685 2440
Fax: +809 685 4510
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
