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Attacked
May 3
José Llaja, Canal 5, ATTACKED, THREATENED
Enrique Cuñeo, El Comercio, ATTACKED, HARASSED
Javier Zapata, Caretas, ATTACKED, HARASSED
Llaja, a cameraman with Canal 5 television; Cuñeo, a photographer with the daily El Comercio; and Zapata, a photographer with the weekly magazine Caretas, were beaten by security guards at Lima's City Hall. The journalists were covering a labor dispute between municipal employees and the mayor's office when security personnel tried to prevent them from filming the event by beating them and destroying the cameras of Cuñeo and Zapata. The mayor later issued a public apology to the journalists and announced that there would be an investigation into the matter. In a report issued at the end of May, the commission that investigated the incident concluded that the head of the Lima police, José La Madrid Ponce, was to blame for the aggressive behavior of the officers at the demonstration. The commission also said that the police reacted inappropriately and used excessive force. La Madrid's handling of the affair will now be the subject of a judicial inquiry.
June 14
Teobaldo Meléndez Fachin, Radio Oriente, Panamericana Televisión, ATTACKED, HARASSED
Meléndez, a reporter for Radio Oriente and Panamericana Televisión, was assaulted by soldiers from the Peruvian air force in the city of Yurimaguas in Callao province. Meléndez was covering the arrival of the bishop of Callao, Miguel Irizar Campos, at the Yurimaguas airport. When Meléndez tried to get close to the bishop to interview him, he was beaten by soldiers, who also confiscated his camera. They threatened to detain Meléndez if he resisted. The soldiers later returned the camera. The air force issued a statement about the incident, saying that Meléndez had verbally abused one of the soldiers. Meléndez denied that accusation.
October 18
Global Television, ATTACKED
Radio Samoa, ATTACKED
The Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) reported that the branch office of Global Television in Puno, which also houses the local radio station Radio Samoa, was the target of a bomb attack that damaged sound and transmission equipment and broke the windows of 19 houses nearby. A police investigation found that three packages of explosives had been placed at the entrance of the three-story building, and that the bombs exploded at intervals of 10 and 15 seconds. The owner of the two stations, Mariano Portungal Catacora, said that the attack slightly injured three members of his family who live with him on the third floor of the building.
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