User:Crtew/Pedro Alfonso Flores Silva



Pedro Alfonso Flores Silva (1975? - 9 September 2011) a TV program director, presenter and reporter for Canal 6 TV in Casma, Peru, who was killed while riding on the highway. He was killed for his journalism as confirmed by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and one of three journalists killed in Peru in 2011.

Personal
Pedro Flores was married to Mercedes Cueva Abanto, who is a well-known TV anchorwoman in Peru.

Career
Flores was a TV reporter for Canal 6 TV in Casma, Peru. At age 36, Flores became the program director of the same Canal 6 TV station. He was the host and presenter for the television show "Visión Agraria." The news outlet Crónica viva wrote Flores was agressive in reporting corruption.

Death
Peruvian TV journalist Pedro Flores was gun down by at least two masked men on a motorcyle on the Pan American Highway North in Nuevo Chimbote in the Ancash or northern region of Peru on 7 September 2011. After his shooting, he was able to drive himself to the local hospital. His murder is believed to be political in nature.

Flores had serve internal bleeding and infection because of the bullet. He was sent to another where he was diagnosed. He was treated and sent to intensive care after going though complex surgery. He died two days later on 9 September 2011 in the hospital.

Crónica viva reported that three suspects were arrested in connection with the Flores murder because one of them was in possession of a weapon linked to his murder. However, he was charged on the lesser crime of possession as the prosecutor did not have any evidence linking him to the incident other than the weapon.

Context
Rivero Huertas, the mayor of Comandante Noel, had filed a defamation lawsuit against Flores. Floras and Rivero Huertas were actually friends until Huertas became the mayor but Huertas didnt hire Floras. Flores began to critize the mayor, which was followed by the lawsuit.

A month before Flores' death, the director of radio, Humberto Espinoza Maguina recieved a letter with a bullet and a message saying, "Shut up, unless you want this bullet in your head."

Impact
Flores was one of three journalists killed during the year. The other two were José Oquendo Reyes of Chincha killed 14 September 2011, which was one week after Flores, and Julio Castillo Narváez, who was killed in May 2011.

Reactions
His wife Mercedes Cueva said, "He has received death theats in recent months in the form of text messages to his mobile phone. This was an attack against freedom of expression."

Mayor Huertas pubicly denied having any connection with the attack, after he had launched a defamation lawsuit against Flores.

Reporters Without Borders has called on Peruvian authorities to give clear evidence of a determination to combat impunity after the second murder of a journalist in Peru this year.

Irina Bokova, who director-general of UNESCO, said, "Those who use violence to stifle public scrutiny into their affairs must be exposed, if democracy and rule of law are to be sustained." She expressed concerned that two journalists were killed within a week of each other in Peru and stressed that democratic societies depended on journalists who could work in an atmosphere free from "fear and insecurity."