By Liliana Honorato
On Wednesday, June 6, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP in Spanish) reported the temporary kidnapping and attacks that a Peruvian journalist suffered on May 27 by a large group of protesters against the Swiss mining company Xstrata in the province of Espinar, in Cuzco, reported the news agency EFE.
According to the Environmental Press Agency, INFOREGION, while Victoriano Noa Inca was trying to cover the protests, the reporter was surrounded, insulted, threatened, and beaten by about 30 people. The attackers also stole his equipment, cell phone, personal documents, and money, added INFOREGION.
On May 28, the newspaper Correo reported the incident, and said that police rescued Noa Inca and that the reporter had received death threats days before the attack “by the radical anti-mining protesters,” members of the Tierra Libertad movement.
Numerous attacks against Peruvian journalists have been registered lately. During the beginning of May, the Journalists Human Rights Office of the ANP published a report saying that there were 49 attacks against journalists in Peru so far in 2012.
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.
