Peruvian journalist Anthony Rodríguez Rumiche from the media Callao TV PressHe was a victim of one Gun attack in front of his house in Callao, a province next to Lima, from which he emerged unharmed after publishing his research alleged acts of corruption attributed to Governor Ciro Castillo -at the moment refugee– reported this Saturday the National Association of Journalists (ANP).
The journalists’ union condemned the attack because of the effect of 20 shots on Rodríguez Rumiche’s car three men on two motorcycleswhen the vehicle was parked in front of the journalist’s house in Callao around 10:30 p.m. on Friday.
Rodríguez Rumiche pointed out that, according to their surveillance camera footage, the attackers had the logistical support of a red car that had previously roamed the area.
“Criminals stood at the door of my house and attacked my vehicle with bullets (…) with criminals who are managed from prison. “In the presence of my youngest son, who was in the room with me, they attacked us in this way,” the journalist said in a video recorded for national media. The journalist said he was also with two other journalists at the time of the attack.
“I place on record that if anything happens to me, I hold the fugitive from justice, Ciro Castillo, his closest entourage, his son and all the officials that I denounced as an investigative journalist from Callao responsible,” Rodríguez Rumiche added in the video.
On the same Friday, Rodríguez Rumiche reported the sabotage of his car while reporting on a press conference about the complaints against the management of the regional governor of Callao because, when leaving the town, he discovered that the four tires had deflated.
The journalist linked these attacks directly to his recent investigations on the alleged use of funds intended for schools for ongoing political campaigns, as well as journalistic reports on a suspected criminal organization led by the Callao regional authorities.
A preventive detention order was issued for Castillo this month for alleged crimes of criminal organization and collusion, aggravated by his ties to the Los Socios del Callao case. This involves the irregular selection of 60 public contracts worth more than 1.4 million soles (US$400,000).
Rumiche filed a complaint about the attack with local police and the State Department after pointing out that this was not the first time he had suffered retaliation for investigating regional management.
The ANP explained that this serious event is not an isolated incident, as it occurs in “an alarming context of escalation of violence against the press”, as this month the third journalist this year was murdered in Pacasmayo and another communicator remains in critical condition following an armed attack in Aguaytía.
This shows “the high risk that journalistic practice in the country is exposed to today,” the ANP noted.
The journalists’ organization demanded that the Peruvian National Police and the Public Ministry act with the utmost care and speed and carry out comprehensive investigations that will allow the identification and punishment of the material and intellectual perpetrators of this attack, prioritizing the line of investigation linked to their professional activity as the main motive for the attack.
In a video from Callao TV PressRodríguez Rumiche and another journalist condemned this Castillo’s successor in the Callao governorship, Edita Vargasreceive “direct intimidation by criminal gangs.” “We know that criminal gangs have threatened, coerced and intimidated them, from the management who have already left,” the journalists added.
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