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Knight Center Reports Two New Attacks on Peru Journalists

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported  two new cases Monday of threats against journalists in Peru.

The first incident involves the owner of a tourism business in the Amazon region who reportedly “burst into a church threatening the Catholic radio station Ucamara in the city of Nauta to stop interfering in his business,” the Knight Center said.

The owner’s threats followed reports by the station that the marinas operated by Read more…

Press Group: Three Peru Journalists Threatened in September

The International Press Institute, an Austrian-based press freedom organization, has reported that three Peruvian journalists received death threats in September, part of a deterioration in media freedom outside of capital Lima.

According to the IPI, journalist Kety Vela of Tocache, in the northern central jungle of the Upper Huallaga, reported receiving threatening phone calls since August. “She also said that an assassin had confessed to being paid more than $1,800 to kill her,” IPI said.

Vela began receiving the threats following a report on alleged links between drug Read more…

Peru court sentences Peru.21 newspaper director and reporter for defamation

A court in Peru’s southern Arequipa region sentenced on Friday the director and a reporter at daily Peru.21 for a defamation suit filed in relation to a story about alleged prostitution connections in the family of Congresswoman Ana Maria Solorzano, a member of the ruling Gana Peru party.

Solorzano’s aunt, Rosario Flores Bedregal, presented the suit against Peru.21 director Fritz Du Bois and reporter Gessler Ojeda based on a report last March when Solorzano was a candidate for Congress. Read more…

Second Peru Journalist Shot to Death in Month

A radio journalist in Peru’s southern Chincha area, who was known for his critical reports on local authorities, was gunned down at the end of last week.

Jose Oquendo Reyes, host of the news program Sin Fronteras on Radio Alas Peruanas, was shot five times at close range by unidentified men outside his home in the town of Pueblo Nuevo, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Authorities must determine whether the killing was related to Oquendo Reyes’ work,” CPJ deputy director, Robert Mahoney, said.

Oquendo Reyes’ death marks the second slaying of a journalist in Peru this month Read more…

Police Say Murder of Local Journalist Politically Motivated

Police in northern Peru suspect that the murder of a journalist this week was politically motivated, daily La Republica reported.

Pedro Flores, 36, a journalist covering farming news in the coastal town of Casma in Ancash region for his own Vision Agraria show on TV, was shot in the stomach on Tuesday and died in hospital Thursday following surgery.

“The crime was political,” said the head of criminal investigation, Officer Wilmer Vasquez. “We have rejected that the murder of the journalist was the result of an assault or robbery. We are investigating.”

The president of the Inter-American Press Association, IAPA, Gonzalo Marroquín called on Peruvian law enforcement to diligently seek the culprits.

The sister of the journalist, Isabel Flores, suspects that the mayor of a local town Read more…

Police arrest 17-year-old suspect in murder of journalist

Peruvian police have arrested a 17-year-old alleged to have killed journalist Julio Cesar Castillo in Viru, La Libertad department earlier this month, daily Peru. 21 reported.

The youth, whose alias is Deybi, was arrested over the weekend in the north coast town. “Various witnesses have identified [him] as the hit man who shot the journalist,” Police Colonel Carlos Celi said. Read more…

La Libertad radio journalist gunned down

Peruvian radio journalist Julio Cesar Castillo has been gunned down by four men in the town of Viru, in La Libertad region, local and international media reported.

Castillo, 41, was killed while eating lunch with friends on Tuesday. As the host of radio program Noticiero Ollantay, Castillo had reported on alleged corruption of local officials. Read more…

Press association says Peru had 82 attacks on journalists in January-April

In the first four months of 2011, Peru’s National Association of Journalists (ANP) has recorded 82 attacks against journalists within the country.

Thirty-seven of the incidents were reported as verbal and physical aggression against reporters, the ANP’s human rights office said. Harassment and threats accounted for 17 cases, while administrative pressure, which includes a journalist being fired, accounted for 15.

Three cases were related to legal pressure brought against the reporters and two included damage to their equipment, secretary general Zuliana Lainez said. Read more…

Humala, Fujimori promise press freedom if elected

Presidential candidates Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori pledged on Friday to respect a free press in Peru if elected to the country’s highest public office.

During an event organized by the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), Humala said his potential government would respect the regulating role of the media, but added that the press should fill a cultural and educational responsibility, daily El Comercio reported.

“We will give all of our backing to the free exercise of journalism. We don’t want to repeat the bitter experiences of the past, when the press was pressured by political interests,” Humala said. Read more…

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