The Right Honourable Fernando Rospigliosi Capurro

Interior Minister of

Peru

c/o Permanent Representative to UN

E-mail: peru@un.int

23 April 2004

Dear Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our outrage at the murder of journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández.

According to reports, Mr Rivera Fernández, a journalist, former member of parliament and president of the Ucayali Journalists’ Federation, was murdered on the afternoon of 21 April in the city of Pucallpa. He was working in his office, which is housed within a glass store run by his family, when two unidentified individuals burst in and shot him twice in the chest.

Mr Rivera Fernández was the host of the programme Transparencia, broadcast daily on the Frecuencia Oriental radio station. He worked closely with Congressman Víctor Valdez and was known for his strong opposition to local and regional authorities because of profits they reportedly made from the sale of land occupied by squatters in Pucallpa.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that a thorough and transparent investigation is held into the murder of Mr Rivera Fernández and that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice. We urge you to do everything possible to create an environment in which journalist are able to carry out their duties without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Seok Hyun Hong

President

World Association of Newspapers

Gloria Brown Anderson

President

World Editors Forum

cc : Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations

Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO