The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) called on the authorities to investigate and detain the arsonists who burned a news stand at the beginning of the month in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province. This is the most recent attack on the La Plata-based newspaper Hoy, reported the organization.
According to Hoy, in the early morning of Nov. 8, a news stand was lit on fire after distributors had dropped off that day's delivery of newspapers. The cooperative in charge of the newspaper's distribution reported that several of its vendors across the city said they had been threatened, according to Hoy.
"A truck was seen in the vicinity with several individuals who had used some kind of fuel to lite the news stand on fire," added the newspaper.
FOPEA noted that this was a new kind of attack on the newspaper's distribution. In July, the newspaper's deliverymen were threatened.
This is not the only case of an attack on newspaper distribution. On Oct. 29, the distribution of the newspapers Clarín and La Nación were blocked in Buenos Aires. On Oct. 16, deliverymen for the newspaper El Debate were attacked for the third time in the city of Zárate.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.