Repeated death threats have been made since May against Juan Parada, contributor to regional daily Río Negro and radio FM Patagonia, in Chos Malal, Neuquén province in the southwest, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
The threats appear linked to his exposure of corruption involving local officials at the courts and the municipal authority as well as police excesses. Parada also gave evidence against the former head of LRA 52 Radio Nacional in a corruption case. He is personally convinced of the connection between his exposures and the threats.
Parada told RSF on May 3 that he had received three phone calls at his home warning him to drop all his political investigations if he did not want to see “blood spilled." In July he was ordered to stop his professional work and anonymous callers told him he would “pay for it."
A few days earlier, advertisers also came in for intimidation aimed at getting them to stop advertising with the radio employing the journalist. His car was also stolen and damaged. These threats culminated on September 5 with a warning that he was going to be killed ten days later, on September 15.
The journalist is now under the protection of the provincial police and he is convinced that his home is being watched. He said that a deputy who came to visit him discretely to offer support was subsequently threatened. He is also concerned about the safety of his wife, a court administration employee, and his daughter, who was referred to in an anonymous call.
“Would Juan Parada have survived the murder threat against him if he had not been placed under police protection?” RSF asked. It is important to know this but that’s not sufficient. Investigators should examine the exposés which could be behind the terror campaign against the journalist as much as other possible leads. “We urge the authorities to swiftly identify and punish the person or persons behind these threats”, it added.
Juan Parada is not the only journalist living with this kind of threat. RSF is also calling for light to be shed on a recent attack against the home of Edgardo Esteban, correspondent of Latin American TV channel Telesur, in Buenos Aires on September 11 as well as acts of sabotage against LRA 29 Radio Nacional San Luis, in the province of the same name in western Argentina.
