A journalist who reported on police collusion with organized crime in southeast Peru was shot in the leg in a failed kidnap attempt.
On Saturday evening, Feliciano Gutierrez, correspondent for Peru’s La Republica newspaper in Juliaca, in the Puno region, was approached by four masked men who attempted to abduct him. When he resisted, they shot him several times.
Gutierrez was walking near his home with a companion, fellow journalist Lourdes Calla, who was also injured in the incident. The attackers fled after stealing the victims’ phones and a camera.
La Republica has reported that the attempted kidnapping appears to be retribution for a series of articles published by Gutierrez, which describe corrupt police practices that allow contraband smugglers to enter Peru from Bolivia.