(IPYS/IFEX) – On the afternoon of 19 September 2000, as Sara Andrea Fajardo, photographer for “Caretas” magazine, was near the Governmental Palace, two unknown individuals tried to snatch her photographic equipment away from her. A few minutes later, while she was covering events in the Plaza de Armas square, a number of police officers and […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On the afternoon of 19 September 2000, as Sara Andrea Fajardo, photographer for “Caretas” magazine, was near the Governmental Palace, two unknown individuals tried to snatch her photographic equipment away from her. A few minutes later, while she was covering events in the Plaza de Armas square, a number of police officers and a civilian who was organising President Alberto Fujimori’s supporters, addressed her asking “[you’re from] Caretas, right?” The journalist had only began working for the magazine a few weeks prior to the incident.
At around dawn on 18 September, members of the Civil Society Collective (Colectivo Sociedad Civil) began a peaceful protest outside the doors of the National Intelligence Service (Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional, SIN) offices, where presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos is alleged to have taken refuge in. Fajardo was one of the first journalists to arrive on the scene, even before news of the protest became known. She believes that this may have been the reason behind the intimidation she was subjected to on 18 September.