Shock group wounds a journalist and commits attempted murder

A journalist from the newspaper Correo del Sur, in the city of Sucre, suffered injuries to the back of his left hand as a result of an intentional attack committed by a shock group that frequently acts in the midst of student disputes at the state University San Francisco Xavier (USFX)according to data obtained by the ANP Monitoring Unit.

The legal team of the National Press Association (ANP) described the action as an attempted murder, included in articles 8 and 251 of the Penal Code, and observed that the injuries caused to the communicator are classified as serious and minor injuries in article 271 of the same legal body. Penalties for those responsible could reach up to 20 years in prison.

the iimpact of pyrotechnic fires in the hand and then at the level of the left pectoralis minorwhere they left a burn and perforation of a jacket, showed that the objective of the attackers was to cause physical damage to the journalist who was recording the assault on the building of the Faculty of Technology from USFX with a cell phone camera.

Around noon on Thursday, July 21, a group of unknown persons arrived at the academic unit located in the center of the city of Sucreand they immediately used locksmith tools, cut the padlocks and picked the locks. The journalist warned that this form of action by the shock group had already been observed in other circumstances, and in coincidence with the election of student boards in other USFX faculties.

After observing that the journalist recorded the assault, three unknown individuals pointed out the explosion of fireworks against the journalist and accidentally against a woman who has set up a stall on the premises. The woman received the impact of the incandescent projectiles in the stomach and was taken to a hospital.

The journalist felt the burns and lacerations on the back of his left hand, and he suspended the recording of a video. “I dodged several shots,” he told the ANP Monitoring Unit. He immediately approached the attacking group and called for the action, and received as a response that he was the target of dangerous fireworks. “because you are with the camera and you are recording us”.

At that time, the journalist was documenting the destruction of the locks of the Faculty of Technology, a public building. The assault occurred, presumably, encouraged by the interest of a group of university students who sought to force the holding of an election in the Technology student center. While these incidents were being recorded, leaders of the Local University Federation (FUL) They watched the events as impassive spectators, and hired private security guards were also present very close by. for this student leadership that did not intervene in the face of the violence unleashed against the journalist from Correo del Sur. Several police officers arrived at the scene but refrained from entering or intervening while the destruction of locks in a public building was completed. under the argument of respect for university “autonomy”.

The president of the National Association of the Press (ANP), Marco Antonio Dipp, who represents the main newspapers in Bolivia, lamented that “autonomy” is used to avoid the intervention of the police and the clarification of these acts of violence against citizens and journalists. This report is authored by the Monitoring Unit of the National Press Association (ANP) that produces its contents citing its own sources or those of other media, in application of journalistic norms, and carries out the analysis of the cases with its legal team.