OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Peru

Freedom of Expression

Peru

            Attacks and threats

 

            272.     The Rapporteurship received information regarding attacks on journalists while covering public demonstrations.  The Rapporteurship reiterates that the State is under an obligation to prevent and investigate such incidents.

 

            273.     On January 29, 2003, several journalists were attacked by workers of the Federación de Construcción Civil when reporting on the protest march that union held at Plaza 2 de Mayo in Lima.  Lan Ortiz and Santiago Bravo of the daily Perú 21, Ismael Tasayco and Iván Ahumada of Red Global de Televisión, Rosario Rengifo of América Televisión, Marcos Rojas, of the daily La República, and Jaime Rázuri, of the news agency Agence France Presse were beaten while filming the workers’ march.  The workers were armed with iron rods and sticks.  One demonstrator attacked the photographer for Perú 21, Santiago Bardo.  Luis Talledo, of the daily Expreso, was about to be beaten by the demonstrators.  Reporter Isabel Rengifo, with América Noticias, was beaten and forcibly expelled from the demonstration along with her photographer.  President Alejandro Toledo emphatically condemned the assault of and violence directed against the journalists.[1]

 

            274.     In April 2003, several journalists were attacked while covering a strike by coca farmers in the department of Ayacucho, southeast of Lima.  On April 7, the correspondent for América Televisión Fortunato Atauje Tipe was assaulted by a group of demonstrators who tried to take his camera from him.  That same day, in the early morning hours, approximately 60 hooded persons entered the offices of Radio Contreras in the Apurímac river valley, province of La Mar, in Ayacucho, where they destroyed the self-managed station’s antenna.  The next day, the correspondent for Frecuencia Latina, Enrique Vargas Cancho, was assaulted by a group of striking coca growers in the department of Ayacucho (450 km southeast of Lima) who wounded him in the forehead when they tried to take his video camera from him.  In the same confrontation, another group of demonstrators took the camera of Walter Condorpusa, correspondent for Panamericana Televisión.[2]

 

            275.     On May 17, 2003, during an operation directed at tourist bars ordered by the provincial municipal government of Huaraz, capital of the Ancash region, in coordination with the office of the Deputy Mayor of the same city, Gustavo Medina Salvador, cameraman for Panamericana Televisión was physically assaulted by a group of municipal police, who took his camera from him.[3]

 

            276.     On May 6, 2003, a group of truck drivers assaulted a photographer from the daily La Industria of Trujillo while he was covering the first day of the national strike called by the truck drivers in the region of La Libertad.[4]

 

            277.     On May 30, 2003, a team of journalists from Canal N, based in Arequipa, who went to the city of Puno to cover events related to the death of a student at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, was assaulted by a mob of demonstrators who accused them of bias in their coverage.  The cameraman was roughed up at the same time as they shouted “liars from the press” (“prensa mentirosa”) and “yellow journalists, tell the truth” (“prensa amarilla, digan la verdad”).  Afterwards, they were punched several times while protecting their camera.  Doris Cornejo was surrounded by a multitude that took away her portable radio equipment.[5]

 

            Legislation

 

            278.     On May 1, 2003, during its afternoon session, the Congress approved the repeal of Article 354 of the Criminal Code, which established the crime of desacato.  The Rapporteurship notes this progress by the Peruvian State, which is in keeping with Principle 10 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.[6]

 

            279.     On February 4, 2003, the Executive promulgated the modifications to the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, to establish the procedure by which the public will be able to request information from public entities, and to set shorter deadlines for them to implement web pages for posting information of public interest.  The Armed Forces and the Peruvian National Police (PNP) should resolve citizens’ consultations without the involvement of the Interior Ministry.  The law prohibits the destruction of information in the hands of the State so that the information can become publicly known, and establishes time frames for the public administration to respond to citizens’ requests for information.[7]

 

            Others

 

            280.     On September 14, 2003, journalist Cecilia Valenzuela reported that the chief of the National Intelligence Council (CNI), Alfonso Panizo, ordered the execution of a plan to monitor the team of journalists from the program La Ventana Indiscreta, which is broadcast on Frecuencia Latina, Canal 2.  On September 16, Panizo stated that there was no order from his institution to harass journalists.  Nonetheless, he later admitted that the journalists were being monitored even though the objective was not to investigate the journalists, but to learn about their sources, due to some leaks of information from the government.  Panizo then stepped down.[8]

 

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