Senior UN official voices concern at rising attacks on journalists in Peru

The head of the United Nations agency that defends press freedom today condemned the recent murder of an investigative television journalist in Peru, the second such attack in the South American nation in one week.

José Oquendo Reyes, producer and host of the programme “Without Borders” on BTV Canal 45, was shot on 14 September as he was entering his home in Chincha, southern Peru, according to a news release issued by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Another TV programme director, Pedro Alfonso Flores Silva, was killed in a similar way in the north-western Peruvian city of Casma on 7 September, while Julio Castillo Narváez, the producer of an investigative radio programme, was shot dead in Virú, in the north-west of the country, on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said she is very concerned about the recent rise in violence against journalists in Peru and trusted that the authorities will not let these crimes go unpunished.

“This is important, lest violence and fear reduce media professionals’ ability to do their job. Fear and insecurity prevent journalists from providing society with the free and independent information needed to sustain the open and informed debate that is the hallmark of any democracy,” she stated.