ENGLISH VERSION
El 24 de marzo del 2011, un grupo de periodistas conformado por David Torres, de Gama TV; Washington Benalcázar, corresponsal de diario El Comercio Imbabura; Christian Tinajero, de Ecuavisa; Enrique Portilla de RTS fueron agredidos físicamente e impedidos de realizar la cobertura, por un grupo de comuneros de la localidad de El Topo, cerca de la ciudad de Otavalo, ubicada a 95Km al norte de Quito.
Alrededor de las 18:30, los periodistas fueron agredidos mientras intentaban realizar la cobertura de una asamblea pública a la que asistieron al menos 300 comuneros, quienes se habían reunido para tratar un tema de administración de justicia indígena.
David Torres de Gama TV dijo a Fundamedios que, desde que ingresaron sintieron un ambiente hostil, les pidieron no filmar ni tomar fotografías.
Una hora más tarde, Torres narró que a salir del lugar, los comuneros se precipitaron a atacarlos con hojas de ortiga por la espalda, tras una orden dada en idioma quichua por el presidente de la comunidad de El Topo, Camilo Anrango.
Torres dijo que la situación es preocupante porque ellos como periodistas no actuaron de forma arbitraria, sino que los comuneros impidieron realizar el trabajo, violentando el derecho a que la ciudadanía se encuentre informada.
Washington Benálzacar, de diario el Comercio dijo que cada vez se vuelven vulnerables a este tipo de ataques, porque pese a que estuvieron dos policías, no contaron con el resguardo policial y tuvieron que salir huyendo del sitio .
Por su parte, el representante de los comuneros, Marco Guatemal, dijo que faltó coordinación entre los periodistas y la directiva del Cabildo para la cobertura de la asamblea y calificó como «excesos de las dos partes», porque, «para que la información sea pública se debió esperar una sentencia ejecutoriada de los sujetos detenidos en la comunidad». Sin embargo, este líder indígena sí reconoció que no debieron actuar violentamente.
Journalists attacked and prevented from working by native community natives
On 24 March 2011, a group of journalists constituted by David Torres, of Gama TV; Washington Benalcázar, a correspondent for the newspaper El Comercio Imbabura; Christian Tinajero, of Ecuavisa TV station; and Enrique Portilla of RTS, were physically attacked and prevented from working by a group of members of the community of El Topo, near the city of Otavalo, 95 km north of Quito.
The journalists were attacked around 18:30, when they were attempting to cover a public assembly attended by nearly 300 of the community members who had met to deal with an issue related to the administration of native justice.
David Torres of Gama TV told Fundamedios that the journalists felt a hostile atmosphere from the moment they entered the premises and were requested not to tape or take photographs.
An hour later, as they were leaving the locale, the community members attacked them from behind with nettle leaves after the president of El Topo community, CamiloAnrango, issued an order in the Quichua language.
Torres stated his concern about the situation. He declared that as journalists they did not act arbitrarily, while the community members prevented them from working, infringing the public’s right to be informed.
Washington Benalcázar, of the newspaper El Comercio, stated they are becoming more vulnerable to this kind of attack because, even though two policemen were present, they were not protected but had to flee the area.
On the other hand, the community’s representative, Marco Guatemal, stated that there was a lack of coordination between the journalists and the council’s leaders and called the event as an «excess from both parties» because the journalists should have waited for «a sentence to be issued against the subjects detained by the community before making the information public». The native leader, however, did acknowledge that they should have not acted violently.