Reporter Accuses Añorve Campaign of Theft and Battery

(Acapulco, AN 13 December) A correspondent for La Jornada Guerrero has filed criminal charges against those responsible for violent aggression against him and the robbery of photographic equipment. The incident occurred last Sunday when the Añorve campaign held a large rally in Acapulco. The reporter believes the criminal assault was perpetrated by the security personnel of Enrique Peña Nieto, the governor of Mexico City State. Misael Habana de los Santos stated that he arrived in the zócalo at 10:30 am to find that a tall steel tower for projecting light and sound had fallen over, injuring 16 persons. As he went to take photographs of the accident victims, Peña’s security personnel, who were armed with firearms, blocked his path and struck him several blows to the kidneys, forcing him to drop his camera, which they confiscated. The confrontation was actually captured on video by another press photographer for Diario 17, Bernardino Hernández.

The reporter made a complaint to the regional human rights commission, delivering the nine-minute video documenting the incident. Other journalists have joined their colleague in the complaint because they, too, were accosted and assaulted by the presumed security personnel at Añorve’s rally. Reportedly Bernardino Hernández was pistol-whipped by the body guards. A few videos taken at the scene have been placed on YouTube.

The reporters accuse Añorve’s press director, whose last name is Valle, for being the source of the problem. They assert that he commanded the bodyguards of the visiting governor not to allow any photographs by any reporters of any of the capsized sound and light tower or of the bloody injuries that resulted from within the crowd. They assert that the Añorve campaign wanted to hide the accident and the injuries from the press and the public.