El Faro Latino calls for Interpol intervention over attempted homicide against Salvador Holguín

New York. — El Faro Latino expresses its strongest condemnation of the aggression suffered by Dominican journalist Salvador Holguín in the city of Madrid, Spain, and demands that Dominican and Spanish authorities act with the utmost rigor in a case that, far from being an isolated incident, has been formally reported as attempted homicide before the Spanish National Police.

The seriousness of the events was documented in an official report by Spain’s Directorate General of Police, filed in Madrid under number 1891/26, in which the journalist appears as the complainant and records explicit death threats, physical assaults with a bladed weapon, and a real risk to his life.

According to the police report, the events occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Friday, January 23, 2026, at the nightclub La Jungla, located at 20 Jorge Juan Street in Madrid, following a day in which Holguín participated in activities related to FITUR 2026.

At the establishment, the journalist was in the company of Senators Alexis Victoria and Franklin Romero, as well as businessman Nelson Cabral, when, always according to the formal complaint, he was violently approached by Francisco Cipriano Pacheco Medina, alias “Chanchy.”

The official document of the Spanish police states that the individual allegedly issued death threats and warned that he would not attack him at that location because it was a public space, but that he would do so in the Dominican Republic. The situation, according to the complaint, was contained by the intervention of an associate of Senator Alexis Victoria and the establishment’s security personnel, preventing the incident from escalating into a tragedy.

Minutes later, according to the formal complaint, Holguín was followed to the restroom of the establishment, where he was cornered by the aggressor and other individuals, attacked with a sharp metallic object, struck on the head and on the lip, while receiving repeated verbal death threats.

The police document also records that the journalist submitted a medical report from Hospital Virgen del Mar, requested the securing of the venue’s surveillance camera recordings, the identification of witnesses, and the adoption of protective measures, given the seriousness of the threats and the danger to his physical integrity.

For El Faro Latino, the existence of a formal criminal complaint for attempted homicide, supported by medical documentation and registered before a European police authority, turns this case into a matter of international security that cannot be minimized or treated with institutional indifference by the Spanish police.

The journalistic trajectory of Salvador Holguín, characterized by high-profile investigations and denunciations of corruption, organized crime, and power structures, requires that this attack be analyzed through the lens of protecting press freedom and the safety of journalists who carry out their work with courage.

In this context, El Faro Latino calls on Dominican and Spanish authorities to deepen the investigation, identify both the material and intellectual perpetrators, and assess the activation of international cooperation mechanisms, including alerts through Interpol, to ensure that those accused are located and brought to justice, including expanding the inquiries to identify any intellectual author in the Dominican Republic.

The defense of life, freedom of expression, and the practice of journalism admits no ambiguities. When a journalist is attacked and formally reports an attempted homicide, silence or inaction becomes complicity.