H.E. Alan Garcia Perez
President
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza de Armas S/N
Lima 1
Republic of Peru
Fax: (011.51.14) 32.65.35
Your Excellency:
Following the murder of Radio Exitos reporter, Miguel Pérez Julca, a bit less than a year ago, we wrote to you to point out how dangerous it has become to practice journalism in Peru. Arrests have been made in the Julca case, but for his beleaguered colleagues, there has been no progress.
On the contrary, since last April, attacks on Peruvian journalists have been reported almost every month. In November, for example, three were manhandled by local officials who included the mayors of two towns — Huari and Otuzco — and a municipal counselor in the Mariano Dámaso Beraún region. A fourth reporter, the manager of a radio station, was threatened by an associate of the mayor of La Joya. Not coincidentally, all four journalists had been investigating local government corruption.
In January, two journalists with the daily, Conoeste, received multiple death threats after reporting that the mayor of Chosica had sexually abused minors. February brought another string of threats. Three hooded persons burst into the studio of Radio Sudamericana in Juliaca and threatened to kill Pedro Mamani Zela as he was broadcasting if he did not stop criticizing regional government officials. Three radio journalists in Yurimaguas who had criticized local officials also received death threats. The house of one of them, John Isuiza Inauma, was sprayed with bullets, though fortunately no one was hurt. At the end of the month, two journalists with Jornada received e-mailed death threats for their coverage of the agrarian strike in Ayacucho.
The incidents mentioned here include only journalists threatened or attacked by officials, and not additional incidents involving threats from drug traffickers or lobbyists.
After our exchange with you last spring, we were happy to see that on May 17 Peru signed the Declaration of Chapultepec, which states, â??Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly.â? At the time you committed your administration â??to observing and safeguarding freedom of speech, and urged other government agencies to consider legal measures to counter the impunity that surrounds crimes against journalists in Peru,â? according to the Inter-American Press Association. You also expressed your support for the creation of a national court to hear cases involving crimes against journalists and violations of freedom of speech.
The Overseas Press Club of America, which has been fighting for the rights of journalists all over the world for almost seven decades, heartily approves these statements and wishes you well in trying to put them into practice. But if journalists in Peru are to be allowed to work in safety and freedom these sentiments must be accompanied by forceful action and visible commitment.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
H.E. Jorge del Castillo Galvez
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Parque Universitario S/n
Lima 1, Pisa 8
Republic of Peru
Fax: (011.51.14) 26.02.30
H.E. Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos Maduen
Ambassador of Peru to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Peru
1700 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: (202) 659.8124
Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Peru to the United Nations
820 Second Avenue, Suite 1600
New York , NY 10017
Fax: (212) 972.6975
H.E. J. Curtis Struble
U.S. Ambassador to Peru
Embassy of the United States of America
Avenida La Encalada cdra. 17 s/n
Surco, Lima 33
Peru
Fax: (011.51.1) 618.2397
Senor Luis Garciamiro
Expreso Tu Diario de Siempre
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