11 Government Inspectors raid La Prensa offices
AGENTS FROM from the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel) carried out an “eye diligence” at the offices of Corporación La Prensa, S.A. (Corprensa), which publishes the newspapers La Prensa and Mi Diario.
A group of 11 agents arrived in three vehicles of the entity, around 9:00 a.m. Friday, October 7. Minutes before, the general manager of Corprensa, Juan Carlos Planells, was informed that a team from the state-owned Ser Tv was at the reception.
When Planells attended them, the television station team told him that “they had been informed that a Mitradel inspection was being carried out.” At that time, the crew from the aforementioned ministry had not arrived, so Planells responded to Ser Tv that surely that information “was a mistake.”
Shortly after, the Mitradel arrived. Planells received them and ushered them in immediately.
The inspectors toured the plant, the newsroom, the accounting department, and the human resources offices, verifying that payroll payments are up to date and that there are no workers with suspended contracts. They also held interviews with staff; the workers interviewed were randomly selected.
The visit ended at 10:40 a.m.
Seth De Gracia, the official who led the Mitradel crew, said that he was not authorized to release the results of the visual inspection. Any questions should be addressed to the Director of Inspection of the Mitradel, Carlos Landero.
The inspection was carried out one day after the launch of a campaign of intimidation and threats against La Prensa journalist Rolando Rodríguez for sending a 22-question questionnaire to the Vice President, José Gabriel Carrizo Jaén reports La prensa
Rodríguez investigates the real estate that Carrizo recently acquired and his relationship with attorney Luis Acevedo Ureña.
Veiled threat
Carrizo has not yet answered the questionnaire that Rodríguez sent. What has been circulating on social networks since Wednesday night (the same day that the vice president received the questionnaire) is a video that has been circulated copiously to ridicule the work and image of the journalist, the father of twins who, end, are mentioned in the video as the ’twins’ (without directly alluding to their names), in a veiled threat to the journalistic exercise.
In the video, which was not created by La Prensa, the newspaper’s logo and the characteristic style used by the multimedia publications of the publishing house are used.
The virulent response of the call centers to a questionnaire addressed to the vice president would show the concern that the questionnaire has caused Carrizo, which also addresses several appointments that were made in favor of the Acevedo Ureña, Arango Cobos and House families.
Rodríguez is also awaiting the answers to the questionnaire that he sent to Acevedo Ureña, with questions about his relationship with Bagatrac and his intervention in the creation of private interest foundations to protect the properties acquired by the Carrizo family.
