Dominican Republic

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

New York, August 8, 2008—Unidentified individuals shot and killed Dominican journalist Normando García Thursday evening in the city of Santiago, 102 miles (163 kilometers) north of the capital, Santo Domingo. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether García’s murder is linked to his journalistic work.

At around 6:40 p.m., García, a cameraman for the daily news program “Detrás de la Noticia” (Behind the News) and producer of the music program “Pachanga Mix” on television station Teleunión, was dropping his car at a car wash when multiple gunshots were fired from a moving car, according to local news reports.

November 24, 2007 
Posted January 10, 2008

Noel Encarnación, Freelance, Despierta Ocoa
ATTACKED, THREATENED

Police attacked and threatened Encarnación, a freelance photographer and reporter for the radio news show "Despierta Ocoa" (Wake up Ocoa) on local state-owned radio Maniel FM, after he photographed victims of Hurricane Noel in the province of San José de Ocoa in central Dominican Republic, the reporter told CPJ.  

JUNE 11, 2007
Posted June 26, 2007

Erica Guzmán, Hoy and Radio Popular
THREATENED

Guzmán, correspondent in the eastern city of Samaná for the national daily Hoy and the national station Radio Popular, told CPJ that her daughter received two anonymous calls threatening the journalist and her family with death after she reported on a local corruption scandal.

New York, May 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s decision by a Dominican court to sentence a gang leader to 30 years in prison for the 2004 murder of local journalist Juan Emilio Andújar Matos.

A court in Azua also ordered Vladimir Pujols, leader of the drug trafficking gang “Los Sayayines,” to pay 1,300,000 pesos (US$40,945) to radio reporter Jorge Luis Sención, who witnessed the attack and was shot during a second ambush. Pujols’ lawyers told local reporters that he would appeal his conviction, according to Dominican press reports.

DECEMBER 20, 2006
Posted: January 12, 2007
Julián Herrera, Clave and Clave Digital
THREATENED

Herrera, a columnist who covers the armed forces for the Santo Domingo-based weekly Clave and the Internet daily Clave Digital, said in an interview with CPJ that he has been threatened and followed by unidentified individuals after reporting on corruption in the Dominican armed forces.

JULY 27, 2006
Posted August 8, 2006

Anaylis Cañizales, “Los dueños del circo”
Enrique Crespo, “Los dueños del circo”
Alí David Demey, “Los dueños del circo”
LEGAL ACTION

A Santo Domingo judge found Cañizales, Crespo, and Demey guilty of criminal defamation, after charges were brought in June by the Association of Art Reporters (Acroarte). The journalists were sentenced to 15 days in jail each. Crespo and Demey were fined 4 million Dominican pesos (US$121,000), and Cañizales was fined 2 million Dominican pesos (US$60,500).

New York, March 9, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the abduction and attempted murder of a Dominican crime reporter early Wednesday morning. Unidentified assailants seized Roberto Sandoval outside his Santo Domingo home and threatened to kill him, according to news reports and a CPJ source. Sandoval escaped by jumping from a moving vehicle as his attackers fired at him.

The journalist hosts two daily programs in the capital, Santo Domingo: “Tribuna de la Noche” on Radio Comercial, and “Justo a Tiempo” on local cable television. Sandoval often reports on crime and is critical of Dominican law enforcement, colleague Ruddy Germán Pérez told CPJ.