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Editor of Daily El Periodico Abducted and Drugged and a Journalist Assaulted within 24 Hours
Reporters Without Borders today voiced its support and called for stepped up protection for the staff of the daily El Periódico, after its editor was abducted and injected with barbiturates and an investigative journalist was beaten up and threatened within a 24-hour period.
Editor, José Rubén Zamora, was snatched on 20 August before being released barely conscious eight hours later while journalist, Oscar Ismatul, was ambushed the following day and threatened by four men who told him to “shut up”.
“Despite the appearance of ordinary crime, since both victims were robbed, these attacks seem above all aimed at silencing staff on El Periódico”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“The warning was completely unmistakeable in the case of Oscar Ismatul, who has been writing articles for the paper about official corruption. Staff on El Periódico should get protection and we hope that a prompt investigation will uncover who was responsible”, it added.
Ismatul was chased by four men in a white car after he left the office in the afternoon of 21 August. Realising he was being followed, he got into a bus but as he got off again the driver of the white car blocked his path, while the three others lying in wait on the street corner managed to trap him.
They beat him up threatening him with guns and ordered him to “shut up” or face serious danger. His assailants also snatched his notes and papers, before forcing him to walk away in the opposition direction.
Editor, José Rubén Zamora, who was abducted 24 hours earlier, had his mobile phone and credit cards stolen. It was discovered that that he had been injected with barbiturates as a result of a blood test taken after the incident.
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6 Responses to “Editor of Daily El Periodico Abducted and Drugged and a Journalist Assaulted within 24 Hours”
Posted on 26 Aug 2008 at 4:50 pm by LIZ
What country are we in? There is no frame of reference for the article? I like to think I am informed but not to the degree that I know what paper is in what country.
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Posted on 26 Aug 2008 at 6:22 pm by Julian Tebye
My objection, too. I checked on El Periodico and was given at least a dozen different periodicals in a dozen different places. So–who or what are we talking about?
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Posted on 26 Aug 2008 at 9:56 pm by Gerardo Villamizar
Believe it or not…Reporters without Borders is an organization of CIA operatives, Similarly speaking the US State Department has a similarly entity named, the “Peace Corps”. This second organization has been operating in many parts of the world organizing, researching and documenting information about vital resources such as oil fields, changes in political climate and informing back to the CIA in America on people that opposse their US policies. Reportes Wihout Borders are aligned with newspapers that are part of the Interamerican Press Asociation located in Miami, Florida, with offices all over Latin America(SIP). Their purpose is to create phantom stories and misinformation, in the International Media to create false perception about goverment or issues contrary to the US foreing polliciies or political ideology. For instance this story about abuse and freedown of the press mostly are faked. The idea of Reporters Without Borders is to create profiles of world leaders, demonizing them such as Venezuelan president Hugo Chaves. Their purpose is to dissinform the US public and do the dirty job for the US goverment´s State Department. -Why didn´t Reportes Without Borders has failed to report on News Reporter Jose Louso who was killed in Irak, as the result of information given by CIA operatives that were interfering with phone comunications who said “that Hotel Bagdad was a target for terrorists”.In reality Hotel Bagdad housed more than 300 news reporters. These American CIA operatives spyed on “Terrorist” . Spain is still seeking extradition of these US Soldiers who fired on Hotel Bagdad from an armored tank that killed Jose Louso. Reportes Without Borders are founded by The Republican Institute in the US. and other foundations whos sole purpose is to destibilize countries. Why doesn´t Reporters witout borders publish information on the deaths of more than 200 reporters in IRAK?
Gerardo Villamizar
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Posted on 27 Aug 2008 at 10:57 am by (The Other) Katherine Harris
I clicked through to the Reporters Without Borders website, which places the story in Guatemala.
Thanks, Gerardo, for that caveat about the organization. Fascinating stuff!
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Posted on 27 Aug 2008 at 12:45 pm by Aaron
Gerardo, you’re terribly misinformed. For one, the journalist’s name is Jose Couso, not Louso.
Second: here is the page on Reporters without Borders’ website about him: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=5968
Third: I would direct you to have a closer look at their page on Iraq. They repeatedly decry American military actions toward journalists, and the actions of all those trying to hinder journalists’ efforts:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16429
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Posted on 27 Aug 2008 at 12:46 pm by Aaron
Here’s another one, Gerardo:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20443
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