Every morning the journalist Raúl Celis López left his house in gloom, shortly after five in the morning, while the city of Iquitos still slept. It was collected by a trusted motorcycle who took him first to collect the newspaper package of the day and then to Radio La Karibeña where the program has been driving for several years Zero -houran informative very focused on the Peruvian jungle. This Wednesday seemed to be another day, when at the crossroads of Brazil and Fanning streets a motorcycle closed their passage, around 5.20. The driver thought it was an assault and made a Zigzag maneuver, but hearing three shots lost control and his vehicle fell off. When he looked up, Raúl Celis López was inert, with exorbitant eyes, and blood stained. They had not stolen anything. The goal was to end his life and achieved it with three bullets in the neck.
Raúl Celis López was one of the most recognized voices in the Loreto region. He had more than four decades given to journalism and on May 18 he was going to turn 71. His style, they tell his listeners, he was critical and scathing with the power on duty. He denounced the irregularities of the regional government daily and used to alert his audience of how organized crime had extended his tentacles in the Amazon. In locations where the Internet connection is scarce, the radio continues to be the mass medium par excellence. Therefore, the image of Celis’s body, hanging from the Mototaxi, quickly inflamed the population that took to the streets to express their outrage.
“No more impunity, no more corruption, no more innocent blood,” the citizens shouted in front of the Public Ministry of Iquitos. The population has demanded concrete actions to combat the mafias and, in addition, the dismissal of the head of the Macro Police Region of Loreto, general Glenn Anthony García Chávez. The tension increased when people hit the official vehicles of the Public Ministry and the Police. Just as in mid -March the murder of Paul Flores, the Russian, singer of the Cumbia orchestra Harmony 10, concided the generalized indignation, the crime of the journalist Raúl Celis López has mobilized Iquitos. A march for this Wednesday afternoon has been convened in the 28th Plaza July. “The hitmen are killing us and the authorities do nothing,” says the poster.
It is the second crime that recalls this region that limits with Ecuador. A few days ago a 21 -year -old girl who attended at a service station, located a few meters from a police headquarters, was killed for resisting the theft of sales money. Luz Mariana Enable Montalván did not want to deliver the kangaroo where he kept 20,000 soles ($ 5,479) and a criminal shot him in the abdomen, drilling a lung. Although the crisis of insecurity through which Lima has crossed has monopolized attention.
The murder of Raúl Celis López joins that of his colleague Gastón Medina, radio broadcaster and director of South TV chain, who was riddled at the door of his house, in the coastal region of Ica, last January. “This situation demonstrates the absence of guarantees in favor of journalists in the country, as well as the delay in investigations and lack of access to justice. The State must ensure that journalists perform their work in an environment free of violence,” said the Ombudsman’s Office. Ángel Páez, Head of the Diario’s Research Unit The Republic, He showed his solidarity with the murder of Celis López. “Organized crime intends to silence ourselves. Let’s continue publishing!”, He urged the journalistic guild.
The Fifth Corporate Criminal Provincial Prosecutor of Maynas has initiated a preliminary investigation into the case. The municipality has made available to the police the images captured by video surveillance cameras. In addition, the Pulsar motorcycle that would have been used by the hitmen was abandoned in the San Francisco passage. Meanwhile, Ramiro Celis, the victim’s son, has slipped the possibility that the attack could be a revenge. “My father has always been a journalist who had character and firmness to say things. Nothing has never silenced and that may have earned him some enemies. I demand the Loreto Police general to do justice. These miserable cannot snatch the life of people. Our country is bleeding by authorities that do not fulfill their work,” he said with indignation. The motorcycle taxi driver has also told that the journalist had planned to change the route.
Radio La Karibeña, the environment for which Raúl Celis López worked, has expressed his regret: “His memory will remain alive in the memory of those who knew him and appreciated his valuable contribution to national journalism.” Loretano by birth, the 70 -year -old radial driver will be veiled at home since Wednesday afternoon. While the prosecution studies the lines of investigation, their listeners feel desolate. They will not hear the voice that accompanied them every morning.
