Two journalists – a brother and sister – were found strangled to death on Saturday morning near their home in El Alto, Bolivia, just outside the country’s capital, La Paz.
The bodies of Verónica Peñasco Layme, communications director for Radio San Gabriel, and Victor Hugo Layme, a journalist with Radio Pachamama, were first identified on Monday morning after family members were shown a police photograph, according to Bolivian news media.
The two had been missing since approximately 05:00 Saturday morning, when they left their residence for Radio San Gabriel, where Veronica was to have led a morning broadcast, “Analisis Coyuntural” (“Headline News Analysis”), news reports said.
Bolivia’s Minister of Communications, Amanda Dávila, said at a press conference yesterday that President Evo Morales had ordered a swift and thorough investigation into the murders, AFP reported.
Dávila said the journalists “had died under tragic conditions in an apparent assault.”
The La Paz Journalists Association released a statement on its website condemning the act of violence and calling on police investigators to clarify the circumstances of the siblings’ deaths.
News reports suggested that local police are for the moment treating the case as an instance of acogotamiento, a physical attack in which victims are overcome by assailants, asphyxiated, and then robbed. According to a police statistic quoted by the media, 69 cases of acogotamiento were recorded in 2011 in El Alto, a suburb of La Paz that has grown into an urban centre of nearly one million people.
According to International Press Institute (IPI) statistics, El Alto witnessed multiple instances of aggression against the media last year. In Nov. 2011, a radio presenter was stabbed and beaten in El Alto after perceived negative coverage of a local trade organisation. In October, El Alto residents blockaded a Catholic radio station after a trade group announced plans to seize the station. In August, journalist said he was attacked and had his camera stolen while reporting on a protest outside El Alto City Hall.
IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said, “We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Verónica Peñasco Layme and Victor Hugo Layme and we urge police investigators to determine whether the murders are related to Veronica and Victor’s work as journalists.”
Noting last year’s incidents, Mills added that IPI was following with concern the wave of violence directed against media operating in El Alto and called on city authorities to ensure the safety of journalists.
