|
|
|
|
Legal Action
July 12
Francisco Elias Valencia, Co-Latino LEGAL ACTION
Valencia, editor in chief of the newspaper Co-Latino, was detained for six hours on defamation charges, then released on 10,000 colones (US$1,150) bail. He was ordered not to leave the country. A hearing on the charges has not yet been scheduled. Valencia was charged with defaming Rafael Antonio Gonzales Garciaguirre, formerly the head of the criminal investigations division of the National Civil Police, in a Feb. 6 article about corruption in the division. Valencia refused to reveal his sources for the article or to provide the names of any witnesses who could corroborate his allegations against Garciaguirre. Garciaguirre was removed from his position, investigated, cleared of the charges of wrongdoing, and reassigned as the subcommissioner of the Department of Criminal Investigations in the Oriente province.On July 26, Fuerza Nacionalista Mayor Roberto D'Aubuisson (FURODA), an underground right-wing political group, issued a threatening communiqué to the media, saying that the charges against Valencia were “only the beginning.” FURODA claims that it can find ways to stop Valencia and others from continuing to be “the voice of the Communists.”
For more information contact americasweb@cpj.org