February 13, 2003 TO: Fausto Alvarado Dodero Minister of Justice of the Republic of Peru Scipión Llona 350, Miraflores Lima, Peru Via facsimile: + 51-1-422-3577 Dear Mr. Alvarado Dodero: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to inquire about the status of journalist Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi, who was sentenced in 1994 to…
New York, February 13, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sent separate letters today to Peru’s minister of justice, Fausto Alvarado Dodero, requesting information about the status of journalist Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi, who was sentenced in 1994 to 20 years in prison on charges of collaborating with terrorists.…
New York, February 6, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Venezuela’s Infrastructure Ministry has opened an investigation into the private, Caracas-based television stations Televén and Venevisión to determine if they have violated media broadcast regulations. The ministry could fine the stations or suspend or even revoke their licenses. On January 30 and…
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today delivered more than 600 petitions to the Eritrean ambassador to the United States. The petitions, signed by prominent U.S. journalists who attended the CPJ benefit dinner in November, urge Eritrea’s president Isaias Afewerki to immediately and unconditionally release Eritrean editor Fesshaye Yohannes,…
New York, February 5, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by a Chilean judge’s decision to impose a two-months suspended prison sentence on television commentator Eduardo Yáñez. On Friday January 31, Judge Juan Manuel Muñoz convicted Yáñez, a panelist on Chilevisión’s debate show “El Termómetro,” of “disrespect” under Article 263 of the…
New York, February 3, 2003–Colombian guerrillas freed two foreign journalists on February 1 after holding them hostage for 11 days in eastern Colombia. The National Liberation Army (ELN) released Ruth Morris, a British reporter raised in California; and Scott Dalton, a photographer from Texas, to an International Red Cross delegate early Saturday in the eastern…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 29, 2003—A top Colombian rebel commander said yesterday that two foreign journalists kidnapped by his fighters would be freed within days, while in a separate broadcast the rebels announced they wouldn’t release the hostages until the military halted operations in the zone where they were being held. Scott Dalton, a photographer from…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 24, 2003—A free-lance journalist with U.S. and Canadian citizenship and his two traveling companions have been freed in Colombia after allegedly being abducted by right-wing paramilitary fighters. Robert Pelton, Megan Smaker, and Mark Wedeven were turned over to a priest and human rights officials on the evening of January 23 in Colombia’s…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 23, 2003—Leftist rebels have detained two journalists, who were on assignment for The Los Angeles Times in the lawless Arauca Department, in eastern Colombia. Scott Dalton, a photographer from Texas, and reporter Ruth Morris, a British national, along with their driver, Madiel Ariza, were removed from their car at a rebel roadblock…