Press freedom conditions improved markedly in Peru during 2001. The victory of centrist Alejandro Toledo, who beat leftist candidate Alan García in the June 3 runoff presidential elections, brought democracy back to Peru, a country that suffered 10 years of authoritarian rule under former president Alberto K. Fujimori.
HORACIO VERBITSKY is one of Argentina’s leading investigative journalists, and a columnist and press freedom activist. He has built his distinguished career by fearlessly exposing government corruption and battling restrictive press laws. A working journalist since 1960, Verbitsky’s relentless pursuit of a story has earned him his nickname el perro, or the dog. In January 1991, Verbitsky…
By Ann CooperIN THE COMMUNITY OF JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE CHRONICLED the past decade’s worst wars, the news last May was devastating. Two of the world’s most dedicated war correspondents, Kurt Schork of Reuters and Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of The Associated Press, were killed in a rebel ambush in Sierra Leone, a country where…
BY EXPOSING CORRUPTION, POLITICAL INTRIGUE, and massive abuse of power, journalists in Peru helped bring down the regime of President Alberto K. Fujimori last year. Fujimori’s dramatic fall demonstrated that the Latin American press remains a key bulwark against leaders who continue to use subtle and not-so subtle means to control the flow of information.…
PERU’S INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS HELPED drive President Alberto K. Fujimori from power after forcing his once-mighty intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos into exile. Fujimori’s November departure led to the unshackling of the independent press, which had seriously suffered under a regime that tried to manipulate public information for a decade. President Fujimori used all resources at his…
New York, October 25, 2000 — In an apparent move to limit television coverage of anti-government demonstrations in Lima, the Peruvian Air Force has imposed flight restrictions that effectively bar news stations from flying helicopters over the capital.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in PERU New York, July 28, 2000 — In a highly unusual move, the Peruvian government has imposed flight restrictions over Lima that prevented the media from using helicopters to monitor opposition demonstrations protesting today’s swearing-in ceremony for President Alberto Fujimori.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the outrageous fine of 290,000 soles (US$84,000) that the National Elections Board recently imposed on the television station Canal N after it inadvertently broadcast results of the most recent election polls. Article 191 of Peru’s Organic Law of Elections prohibits the publication of poll results less than 15 days before the election.