An Argentine television reporter and cameraman were beaten, threatened with death, and ordered to strip when they tried to cover a human trafficking story about Bolivian families on a farm in the western province of Mendoza on Dec. 29, reported the official news agency Télam and Diario Uno.
Journalist Julián Chabert and cameraman Raúl Zalazar, of Channel 7 of Mendoza, said they were investigating reports of 15 Bolivian immigrants -- mostly minors -- suffering labor exploitation, when the owner of the farm, Horacio Isgró, locked the journalists in the kitchen and threatened to kill them, according to the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish).
The two journalists went to the olive producing plantation in the district of Los Corralitos in order to cover an inspection by the Labor Undersecretary and investigate claims that the Bolivian families were living in overcrowded compounds without running water and with only a latrine, according to FOPEA.
While the journalists tried to interview an alleged victim of human trafficking, the land owner and his son threatened them with a gun, reported Cuyo Noticias. However, Chabert managed to use his cell phone to call police and they were rescued and the land owner arrested, according to Télam.
