A regional court in Peru has awarded long prison sentences to five men accused in the murder of radio journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández in Pucallpa on April 21, 2004, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
Contract killer Angel "El Gatillo" Mendoza Casanova and Erwin Pérez Pinedo, the man who hired him, both got 30 years. Two city officials, Roy Culqui Saurino and MartÃn Flores Vásquez, who contacted a fifth defendant on behalf of the mayor of Pucallpa and asked him to find a hit-man, were both sentenced to 25 years by the Ucayali regional higher court in eastern Peru on February 7. The fifth defendant, Tercero González, who turned to his cousin, Pérez Pinedo, for help, was given only 10 years because he cooperated with the prosecution.
In a second trial to be held in March, the defendants will be the alleged instigator, Pucallpa mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta, another municipal official, Jorge Barrantes Aguilar, an alleged gangster, Lito "Chino Lito" Fasabi Pizango, and Solio RamÃrez.
Rivera was gunned down as he was entering his home, which also housed a shop belonging to the family. Two men who were posing as clients rushed out of the shop and shot him twice in the chest, hitting him in the heart. He died instantly. The shop manager, a relative, rushed him to hospital where doctors confirmed that he was dead. Rivera was married and had two children, one still a minor.
He was president of the Ucayali Journalists Federation and presented a programme called "Transparencia" on Radio Frecuencia Oriental. He was known for being very critical of both local and regional officials, especially LuÃs Valdez Villacorta, the mayor of Coronel Portillo, one of the municipalities that make up the city of Pucallpa.
Rivera had lambasted Mayor Valdez for the way he handed the illegal occupation of state land. Together with an independent parliamentarian, VÃctor Valdez Meléndez, he had organised a march in support of the squatters on January 13, 2004 in which the protesters ended up invading the town hall and wrecking some of its furniture.
Rivera was also a parliamentary representative for Ucayali from July 1990 to April 1992, having being elected on the Christian Popular Party (PPC) list. Thereafter, he had concentrated on journalism although he was considered a close associate of Valdez Meléndez. Meléndez said Rivera had constantly received threats. He also said he believed that Ucayali region governor Edwin Vázquez López and the mayor of Coronel Portillo were behind the murder.
