Miami (March 24, 2021).- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the acts of vandalism against the facilities of Diario Río Negro, in the Argentine province of Río Negro, and the attacks and threats against members of its staff. The organization requested an investigation and immediate results.
The attack was perpetrated yesterday by union members of the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA-Autónoma). The perpetrators broke into the newspaper, insulted and beat two receptionists and photographer Juan Thomes. They also threatened journalist Luis Leiva, who has covered the accusations of sexual abuse against a leader of that union. The threats were verbally and with graffiti on the walls of the newspaper.
Executives of the newspaper, whose headquarters are located in the city of General Roca, criticized the delay on the part of the police in reaching the facilities, after the attack was reported.
The president of the IAPA, Jorge Canahuati, and the president of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, agreed in condemning "acts of intimidation against press personnel and vandalism against the newspaper's headquarters."
Canahuati, president of the multimedia Grupo Opsa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Jornet, director of the newspaper La Voz del Interior, Córdoba, Argentina, urged the authorities to promptly identify and punish all those involved in such acts of violence.
IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
