Report to the Midyear Meeting
Panama, Panama
March 6 – 9, 2015
In this period the environment for the exercise of freedom of the press was characterized up to January by reports of attacks on and harassment of the press as a consequence of an aggressive campaign and regional and municipal electoral warfare that showed the extent and ingrained nature of corruption in the regional and municipal sphere.
There remains in effect a lack of punishment in crimes against journalists. This situation could change positively judging by the outcome of an emblematic case, that of the murder during the domestic war of the 1980s of journalist Hugo Bustíos, correspondent in Huanta, Ayacucho, of the magazine Caretas.
The most relevant event in this area has been the charge made by the Lima Public Prosecutor's Office on February 26 against former Interior Minister Daniel Urresti Elera as being behind the ambush that resulted in the death of Bustíos in 1988. The public prosecutor sought 28 years imprisonment and financial indemnity. Urresti claims that he had no knowledge of the crime, despite the fact that at the time he held the post of intelligence chief in Huanta.
Another case that merits the immediate attention of Peruvian Attorney General Pablo Sánchez Velarde is that of the murder of Gloria Lima, wife of journalist Gerson Fabián, committed on October 17, 2014, in circumstances in which two assailants entered the Radio Rumba radio station in Pichanaki, Junín, while he was in the midst of his broadcast, one of them threatened him with a gun, then fired, hitting his wife who had come out in his defense.
Despite the many actions by the Inter American Press Association before the Peruvian Attorney General and Interior Minister, Gerson Fabián reported that the authorities had left the case in oblivion and the investigation had halted.
New Interior Minister José Luis Pérez Guadalupe has also been urged to facilitate the quest for the truth and justice
The controversy over concentration of media ownership continues in the courts. It is 16 months since eight journalists filed a lawsuit – action concerning constitutional guarantees – requesting nullification of the purchase made by the Grupo El Comercio group of 54% of the shares of Epensa (now Prensmart SAC). This purchase did not include that of the contents which continue to be operated by the Epensa group.
Their suit calls for compliance with Article 61 of the Constitution which explicitly prohibits the monopolization of news media and also refers to the fact that in general companies, goods and services related to freedom of expression and of communication cannot be the object of exclusivity nor monopoly directly or indirectly on the part of the government nor private persons. For its part the Grupo El Comercio points out that this article does not refer to media concentration but to monopolizing which are in practice different legal concepts. For the complainants this is not only an open violation of what is established in the Constitution but also represents a danger for democracy and a threat to the possibility of the people being informed as a pluralist society.
For its part the Grupo El Comercio maintains that since its association with the Epensa group "there have not been – nor has there been any complaint of – anti-competitive practices." Since the association was produced neither the Grupo El Comercio nor the Epensa group have been able to avoid suffering a fall in the amount of their advertising which has been faced by the Peruvian press since mid-2014.
Neither has there been in the same period any meddling – nor accusation of meddling – by the Grupo El Comercio in the editorial conduct of the Epensa group.
The Grupo El Comercio has almost 80% of the Peruvian printed press market, which represents an open violation of what is established by the Constitution and a danger for the people's right to receive plural information and a threat for democracy. The Grupo El Comercio points out that this is a fallacy as it does not manage, there has not been any meddling nor accusation of meddling in the contents of the Epensa group.
It adds that since the association between both groups there have not been registered denunciations of anti-competitive practices and that since then it has not been possible to avoid the drop in advertising, a crisis that has been affecting the Peruvian pres since mid-2014, the result of the economic slowdown in the country. It says that the market continues to show itself as open to the entrance of new competitors presenting, by way of example, that two more print newspapers entered it last year.
In late February Judge Lizy Magnolia Béjar Monge, who admitted the lawsuit against the Grupo El Comercio while serving as judge of the Lima 4th Constitutional Tribunal, complained of persecution by lawyers of the Grupo El Comercio. This complaint was taken up by the newspaper La República on its front page, in the editorial, news, opinion and cartoon sections.
The Grupo El Comercio says that after its lawyers filed two lawsuits against Judge Béjar, questioning her competence to admit the formal complaint of the journalists, which was initially declared null by the regular judge who in turn proceeded to admit it, it has not taken any other legal action against Judge Béjar nor has it again given journalistic coverage of this matter. In this regard of concern is the slowness with which the legal process is developing.
In another development the Peruvian Press Council noted the setback regarding the right to public information during this period and the non-compliance with commitments assumed by the Peruvian government before the Alliance for an Open Government linked to transparency, accountability and the people's participation in public affairs.
Finally, the harsh statements in which President Ollanta Humala Tasso referred to the coverage by the newspaper El Comercio of the case of the sale of military secrets to Chile seriously called attention and are added to increasingly more frequent comments discrediting the work of the press in general by him, his First Lady and his political realm.
Significant developments during this period:
On October 13, Eduardo Auccalla Muje, a journalist for Channel 5 TV and host of the program "Frecuencia en la Noticia" for the Frecuencia 97 radio station (Satipo province, Junín department), was physically and verbally assaulted by a group of demonstrators opposed to Pluspetrol's natural gas drilling in the region.
On October 17, two unidentified individuals entered the offices of Radio Rumba (Pichanaki district, Junín department) and questioned the work of journalist Gerson Fabián Cuba.
One of them pulled out a weapon and attacked Fabián Cuba with it. The journalist's wife, Gloria Limas Calle, then came out, and a struggle ensued. The two assailants left the offices of the radio station, but while descending the steps, one of them fired two shots, one of which struck and killed Limas Calle.
On October 23, journalists Alex Vásquez Requejo and Jorge Luis Muñoz Acuña of Radio Andina and RTV Canal 2 Chota (Chota province, Cajamarca department) said that a group of demonstrators led by Alindor Ruíz Guevara, a provincial government official in Chota, verbally assaulted them and threatened to kill them.
On October 23, Paola Collazos and José Atauje, correspondents for Canal N and América Televisión in Ayacucho department, said they had received death threats in text messages sent to their cellphones.
On October 24, 2014, Marvin Mazuelos Cristóbal, one of the two alleged killers of the wife of Fabián Cuba, was arrested by police in Pichinaki, Junín department.
On October 27, at a press conference held in Lima about the killing of Fabián Cuba's wife, IAPA president Gustavo Mohme Seminario condemned and called attention to the increasing number of threats and acts of harassment against journalists in Peru, and called on the government to ensure the safety of journalists. A meeting was requested with the interior minister to discuss the dangers facing journalists outside the Peruvian capital.
Thus far, Fabián Cuba has reported that the authorities—the public prosecutor's office in Chanchamo, Junín—have neglected his case and that no progress has been made in the investigation, despite the fact that Alfredo Torres Cano, former candidate for mayor of Pichanaki, can be clearly heard issuing threats on audio recordings. And no progress has been made toward the capture of the other assailant who participated in the killing of the journalist's wife.
On November 3, Rocío del Pilar Vásquez Goicochea, editor of Perú Pesquero magazine; Marilú Gambini Lostaunau, director of the program "Archivos Secretos" on Channel 55; and cameraman Robert Sánchez Alamo (in Santa province, Ancash department) reported that shots were fired at them from the Damanzaihao, a foreign fishing vessel alleged to have been engaging in illegal fishing activity.
On November 9, Fernando Raymondi Uribe, a journalism student who was working in the research department of Caretas magazine, was killed in Cañete province, Lima department, while doing investigative work on organized crime, drug trafficking, and corruption in the province.
Raymondi was at his father's grocery store when two armed assailants entered the store in an apparent robbery attempt. But even though the father repeatedly told the assailants where the money was, they shot his son in the chest and killed him. The assailants fled, taking nothing with them.
Police officers investigating the Raymondi murder say that they believe the motive was simply to kill and not the student's profession or his investigative work.
On December 9, unidentified individuals forced open the door of the home of Enrique Lazo Flores, editor of La Región newspaper and president of the Ilo Provincial Journalists Association (Ilo province, Moquegua department). On December 5, unidentified individuals entered the newsroom of La Región and removed two computers, a CPU and documents on journalistic investigations. Lazo Flores attributes these incidents to published reports implicating the Peruvian National Police in the theft of 5,000 gallons of oil owned by the Peruvian Navy.
In 2014 the so-called Orellana Group, headed by businessman Rodolfo Orellana Rengifo and Benedicto Jiménez—both of whom are behind bars while facing criminal charges of money laundering, illegal land transactions, fraud and conspiracy—disingenuously abused the court system by bringing frivolous civil and criminal complaints against journalists and media outlets.
The Orellana Group filed a total of 18 actions against Augusto Álvarez Rodrich (2), Enrique Zileri Gibson (3), Marco Zileri Dougall (4), César Romero (1), Ricardo Uceda Pérez (1), Augusto Thorndike del Campo (1), Marco Antonio Vásquez Centurión (3), Melissa Pérez Huaringa (1) and César Hildebrant Pérez Triveño (2) in response to these journalists' investigations into Orellana Rengifo's illicit business dealings.
In the last two months of 2014, the courts declared 14 of these actions inadmissible and set four of them aside because Orellana Rengifo elected not to pursue them. The courts' rulings upheld press freedom and the journalists' right to inform.
On January 14, Carmen Sotero Nole, director of the news program "Palabra Abierta" on open-air Channel 19 and cable Channel 98 (Tumbes department), said that unidentified assailants threw Molotov cocktails and set her home on fire. Sotero believes the attack is related to the death threat issued against her by the husband of the assistant manager of marketing for the Tumbes provincial government.
On January 15, Raúl Arriarán, a news photographer for Diario Uno, was assaulted and later detained by officers of the Peruvian National Police while taking photographs of violent incidents during a march in Lima against a law on young adults in the workforce.
On January 26, IAPA president Gustavo Mohme Seminario called on the Peruvian government to acknowledge its responsibility for the 1983 killing of eight journalists and a guide (Willy Retto, Jorge Luis Mendivil, Félix Gavilán, Octavio Infante, Pedro Sánchez, Jorge Sedano, Eduardo de la Piniella, Amador García and Juan Argumendo) by residents of Uchuraccay, Ayacucho departament. Mohme Seminario also lamented the fact that the victims' relatives have been unable to secure justice 32 years later.
Mohme Seminario said, "The martyrs of Uchuraccay have yet to gain that recognition. We know that it is difficult to determine legal responsibility after so much time has passed, but it must be said: the state was an accomplice by its action or inaction."
On February 2, Juan Carlos Tafur, editor of the newspaper Exitosa, and journalist Roberto More were acquitted by Peru's Supreme Court of the criminal complaint brought by Antonio Ketín Vidal, a retired general of the Peruvian National Police. The complaint had been brought in response to a report published in Diario 16 in 2011 on alleged ties between Vidal and the Sánchez Paredes family, which was under investigation for laundering assets generated by drug trafficking.
On February 12, Claudia Cisneros Méndez, a columnist for La República newspaper, reported that she was struck and thrown to the ground by a member of the Anti-Riot Unit of the Peruvian National Police in Lima while she was covering a march protesting the violence in Pichanaki district, Junín department, where the police violently repressed residents who were protesting against the Argentine firm Pluspetrol, causing the death of one person and leaving some 144 people injured, 32 of them by gunshots.
