Another Medina Administration official threatens reporter

Santo Domingo.- NCDN TV investigative reporter José Ernesto Devárez was accosted by an unidentified individual riding a motorcycle last week, warning the journalist "to shut up and be careful."

Devárez, interviewed on Channel 37"News Now," said stones were also hurled at his parents’ home and that the motorcyclist approached the channel’s vehicle, made the warning and left.

"What I Tweeted this morning was to say that we’re not going to be restricted from exercising our freedom of expression and will continue conducting investigations for Nuria Piera’s (TV) program and CDN as long as it takes, as long as the allegations have merit and have documentation," he said.

Devárez said he filed a complaint and blamed Ramón Rodríguez (Monchy) and his son Hamlet Rodriguez, officials of the government’s Economic Cafeterias, and the targets of a report published two months ago on alleged irregularities.

He had also denounced that Hamlet Rodriguez was on the Customs Agency’s payroll, but had never performed any function in that institution.

"I don’t want absolutely anything to happen to my family or my son, because that’ll be a strong problem.”Don’t mess with my son," the reporter warned.

Precedent

The attack against Devarez is the latest incident of government officials threatening reporters, the most recently by veteran journalist Marino Zapete, who denounced a similar harassment by the government’s cooperatives agency (Idecoop) director Pedro Corporan.