Any time a journalist gets a gun pulled on them during the course of their work, it's a serious situation. But in Peru the gunslinging isn't confined to the guys carrying sacks labelled "swag" on their backs. In Peru high court judges bully journalists with guns.
Meet Justice Raul Rosales, who decided to threaten photographer for Peru's Caretas magazine Carlos Saavedra with a gun last week (Feb 12th at 11:36am, to be exact) and also had the following conversation with the snapper (translated):
Just so you know how the legal system is working in this model democracy.
CS: Don't you realize what you're doing, pointing a gun at me?"There are other reasons why Judge Raul Rosales is a polemic character in Peru at the moment, as he recently overturned a suspension order on one of his fellow judges that allowed him to go back to work, even though the whole episode that led to the suspension reeks of the normal corrupt stench that hangs around Peru's judiciary.
RR: "And you should also be careful with what you're doing."
Just so you know how the legal system is working in this model democracy.