Peru

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80th General Assembly, October 17-20, 2024, Cordoba, Argentina
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Legislative initiatives, lawsuits and defamation claims, raids, obstruction of public interest coverage, and verbal attacks against journalists have been the primary mechanisms for attacking the press during this period.

High-level officials – such as former Congress President Alejandro Soto and Interior Minister Juan José Santiváñez – are increasingly taking aggressive and systematic stances against the press through threats, insults, and complaints.

While President Dina Boluarte has remained silent towards the press in the last semester, her Interior Minister, Santiváñez, has stood out as the primary perpetrator of attacks and threats against journalists. On several occasions, Executive Branch officials, including the president, have attempted to deny facts reported by the press, labeling it as activist or biased.

In April, President Boluarte criticized the media for uncovering and reporting on the use of Rolex watches and high-value jewelry that she did not declare in her sworn statements and for lying about the origins of the items. She suggested that media coverage could be due to sexism or discrimination. She accused the newspaper El Comercio of providing "biased and false" information after it reported on deposits of about US$300,000 that the president failed to disclose the origin of.

Between May and June, President Boluarte made no statements to the press. At least three public events saw journalists from various media outlets prevented from asking her questions and being held back on a platform.

In July, Interior Minister Santiváñez threatened to take legal action against journalists César Hildebrandt and Ricardo Velazco for reporting irregularities before he took office.

In September, Santiváñez threatened to criminally charge journalists who disseminated audio recordings implicating him in facilitating the movement of Vladimir Cerrón, leader of the Peru Libre party (with which Pedro Castillo came to the presidency and which formed a bloc in Congress) and a fugitive from justice for nearly a year. He also threatened legal action against journalist Karla Ramírez of Panamericana Televisión after she exposed a document denying her a personal meeting with the president of the Congressional Oversight Committee.

Also, in September, the presidential office refused to provide information about one of the official vehicles allegedly used to transport the fugitive Vladimir Cerrón. Additionally, eight media outlets were prevented from covering an event by President Boluarte in the San Martín region related to forest fires.

In October, during a public presentation, Boluarte used the term "image terrorism" to refer to information about her published by the press. Shortly thereafter, the parliamentarian Waldemar Cerrón, whose fugitive brother Vladimir Cerrón is the subject of journalistic investigations that have revealed serious cases of corruption, claimed that there is 'press terrorism,' while the Chief of Staff, Gustavo Adrianzén, affirmed that "we cannot deny that false news is spread, which not only offend but has a purpose: [...] to generate chaos and destabilization."

Congress has become one of the primary sources of aggression against the press, especially by congress members accused of alleged acts of corruption.

In April, Congressman Jorge Luis Flores Ancachi proposed a bill to incorporate a measure in the State Procurement Law to prevent journalists who have worked in any media outlet and their relatives up to the second degree from being hired by the state for a year after leaving their positions. The press denounced Ancachi and others who signed the bill, such as Elvis Vergara and Darwin Espinoza, for irregular acts and influence peddling.

Congressman Luis Gustavo Cordero Jon Tay of Acción Popular presented a bill to create the Professional Communicators Association. It proposes that journalists must have a university degree.

Congressman Darwin Espinoza, under investigation for alleged acts of corruption, threatened Latina TV journalist Renzo Bambarén.

In May, Congressman Ancachi threatened and insulted journalist Eduardo Quispe of the program Cuarto Poder on América TV when he asked questions for a report. He threatened to sue him if the information the journalist was gathering – about an alleged corruption case within his party – was not corroborated by the judiciary.

In June, the Congressional Foreign Relations Committee approved amending a law to strengthen the supervision and oversight of NGOs through the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI). Similar laws exist in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Congress approved initiatives regulating state funding for local films about human rights between 1980 and 2000, during the terrorism era.

In July, Alejandro Soto sued two journalists from Cusco for defamation while still presiding over Congress. He sued journalist Yessica Bazalar Sequeiros for the third time and Carlos Castillo for retweeting a Latina Noticias note about the allegedly irregular land purchase. While still president of Congress, he banned journalists and media from accessing the debate and voting on the country's new comptroller.

In August, Congressman Espinoza assaulted and threatened journalists in the Parliament premises who asked him about a hiring that would be the result of a favor exchange with another congresswoman, a matter under investigation by the Ethics Committee.

There were also attacks against journalists in the Public Ministry.

In April, the home of Sudaca.pe journalist Juan Carlos Tafur was raided by the Prosecutor's Office, and his electronic devices – and those of his wife – were seized. The search warrant stated that Tafur would be part of a criminal organization and that he had supposedly met with sources under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office to favor one of them.

In August, the television channel Willax and some of its journalists faced investigation processes by the Public Ministry. Augusto Thorndike and Carlos Paredes are under investigation for allegedly violating the Legal Defense Institute (IDL) correspondence by broadcasting their bank statements on the program Contracorriente. Paredes also faces a fiscal investigation for disobedience to authority for not handing over a video of a report required by the Special Team of Prosecutors against Corruption in Power.

Other cases of aggression:

Latina TV journalist María Elena Mamani was harassed at the Canaval y Moreyra and Matellini stations of Lima's Metropolitano public transport system while covering the system's chaos.

Journalists Paul Pilco Dorregaray and Wilfredo Contreras Palomino of Radio Titanka in Abancay, Apurímac region, were sued for aggravated defamation by Indira Ruiz López, former head of the Regional Civil Defense Office of the Apurímac Regional Government.

Journalist Paul Vega Roque of Radio Estación MIC in Maynas, Loreto, was assaulted by a police officer while covering a protest against the company Electro Oriente.

In May, the suspended mayor of Trujillo, Arturo Fernández, sued journalists Juan José Bringas Céspedes and Alejandro Quispe Ortiz, director and editor of the newspaper La Industria, for aggravated defamation.

In June, a team of Canal N journalists was pushed out by Serenazgo members during an official activity of Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga. Marco Calderón and Felipe Díaz were trying to get statements from the mayor.

A virtual event of the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), presenting a report on lawsuits and trials against journalists, suffered a cyberattack in which violent and pornographic images were suddenly leaked. Since the attack could not be controlled, IPYS canceled the presentation.

The newspaper La República was blocked in Venezuela after the July 28 elections.

Moquegua Governor Gilia Gutiérrez Ayala threatened legal action against journalist Julio Farfán Velarde of Prensa Regional. The journalist published reports questioning the use of public resources by the regional government.

In August, 40 years of impunity were marked since the disappearance of journalist Jaime Ayala, who was a correspondent for the newspaper La República.

In September, the President of Congress, Eduardo Salhuana, announced that he would file a defamation lawsuit against executive Pablo de la Flor, Corporate Affairs Manager of Compañía Minera Poderosa, after he stated in a business forum—not through a media outlet—that 'we have a President of Congress who is a representative of one of the most active and pernicious illegal economies. Salhuana has direct ties to informal mining.' Minera Poderosa has been a victim of violent attacks by illegal miners, which have so far left at least nine workers dead.

On September 20, journalist Paola Ugaz learned that the judiciary had requested her phone operator to lift her communications, including all incoming and outgoing call records and geolocation information between 2013 and 2020, while she was investigating the religious movement Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana for allegations of sexual abuse.

A corruption court lifted the secrecy of Ugaz's communications due to an alleged case of illicit enrichment dating back to his participation in the government of former mayor Susana Villarán. Prosecutor Néstor Rivera requested the enforcement of an order issued more than a year ago to do the lifting without notifying the journalist or her lawyer. According to Ugaz, the prosecution has not presented the arguments regarding the alleged illicit enrichment.

On October 10, during the coverage of the transport strike, four journalists were attacked by police. Víctor Castillo from América TV, Noelia Vallvé from Wayka, independent journalist Juan Mandamiento, and Enzo Vidal from Panamericana were assaulted in different areas of Lima by members of the National Police.


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