The photojournalist of the EFE agency, Aldair Mejia, He suffered threats and was shot in the leg by the Peruvian National Police (PNP) in Puno. On the fourth day of protests against the president Dina Boluarte and the Congress of the republicthe communicator was around the Inca Manco Cápac airport in Juliaca to cover the clashes.
infobae talked with Zuliana Lainezpresident of the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP), to know the state of health of Mejía. In this sense, he reported that he was transferred to the American Clinic of Juliaca for his care, but reported that they tried to change the medical report.
“He has been transferred to a clinic in Juliaca, but what we most deplore from the National Association of Journalists, that we have information, that they have wanted to change the medical report. Despite the fact that he is a rubber pellet, the head of the clinic has wanted to say that he is the impact of a stone Aldair has refused ”, he revealed to this medium.
Lainez indicated that he has the original medical part and they are looking to remove it from the health center. Likewise, he mentioned that the police officers have already identified the group of independent and international photographers.
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Hours earlier, Mejía explained that two agents detained him, for which he tried to register, but the officers sought to take away his identification card. In addition, he was prevented from carrying out his work amid threats of an attempt on his life.
“(…) he threw me with his shield into the sand outside the airport. Then, while I was taking photos of the interventions, he came and wanted to grab my camera. I walked away and he threatened me, saying: ‘Get out of here, if I don’t blow your head off and you’re going to die’”, reads the AFPP statement, according to Mejía’s account.
Through social networks, the journalist Jaqueline FowksIt also reported that the photojournalist was wounded in the leg by “a shot from the Police.” In a video, the help of citizens to the communicator is displayed, who was later transferred to a nearest hospital.
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“The photographer Aldair Mejía from the EFE agency was injured in the leg this afternoon while covering the demonstrations in Juliaca, Puno. He has been taken to a health center, ”he indicated on his Twitter.
The Association of Photojournalist of Peru (AFPP) rejected this physical and psychological aggression against Mejía. “The attacks on journalists who have been covering the roadblocks and clashes between the police and protesters in the southern Andes since last Wednesday are absolutely intolerable.
AFPP urged the Police to respect the work of journalists and defend “constitutional guarantees.” Also, they asked that the aggressors must be identified so that they can be punished.
Luis Jaime Cisneros, president of the Association of Foreign Press in Peru (APEP), also rejected and asked for sanctions for the repression by the agents of the communicators. “It considers it inadmissible that well-identified journalists are attacked and threatened with death for fulfilling their informative task in Juliaca. We are privileged and uncomfortable witnesses. We demand that the government sanction police excess ”, he published.
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