|
|
|
|
Attacked
February 6
Hector Arroche, Free-lancer, ATTACKED, THREATENED
Unidentified men with machine guns fired several shots at the studio of free-lance photojournalist Arroche in the middle of the night. The studio was empty at the time, and no one was hurt. The attack came just hours after a judge assigned a police officer to guard Arroche in response to a complaint the journalist filed about receiving threatening phone calls. Prior to the attack, Arroche, who works for the daily Cronica and the official news agency Telam, had received several anonymous death threats after photographing a Jan. 22 police crackdown on a prison mutiny in Cordoba, which resulted in the death of three inmates. The callers warned Arroche to destroy all the negatives of the photos he took during the rebellion.
February 21
Hernan Ramos, Canal 13, ATTACKED
Julio Bazan, Canal 13, ATTACKED
Mariano Paccioco, Telefe, ATTACKED
Jorge Sagastume, Television Selectiva de La Plata, ATTACKED
Marcelo Clausel, Cronica TV, ATTACKED
Fernando Menendez, Telefe, ATTACKED
Six journalists were beaten by policemen and plainclothes officers while covering a student demonstration that turned violent in La Plata, the capital of the Buenos Aires province. Ramos, a cameraman for the television station Canal 13, was shot by police in an effort to prevent him from filming the police beating demonstrators and journalists. He was hospitalized and had to have five rubber bullets surgically removed from his leg. Four police officers were placed under criminal investigation for the shooting of Ramos, and eleven were suspended for their brutality and misconduct during the demonstration.
April 9
Cristian Dzwonick, La Nacion, ATTACKED, THREATENED
Dzwonick, Argentina's leading newspaper cartoonist, who, under the name "Nik" drew biting political cartoons for the daily La Nacion, was held at gunpoint for 30 minutes by two men who warned him to "quit all your rubbish." A week earlier, he had appeared on a television show about the 1976-83 rule of the military regime. The attack came during a wave of violence and threats against other journalists, schools and airlines coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the last military coup.
For more information contact americasweb@cpj.org