The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) considered that in Peru “the freedoms of expression and press They are at their worst moment in the last two decades.”
Based on a document prepared by the Peruvian Press Council (CPP), the international organization noted that since the administration of President Pedro Castillo began, the Executive Branch has become the institution that most affects these rights. “Now it’s not just the traditional institutions of aggression, such as Congress and the Judiciary, but, above all, the Executive Power,” says the IAPA’s biannual report on Peru.
Consulted by this newspaper, Carlos Jornet, president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, expressed his concern about the serious impact on freedom of the press in our country and questioned the notarial letter that Castillo sent to the Panorama journalistic program, in which he threatened to take civil and criminal actions, in case there is no rectification for a report that links him to businessman Roberto Aguilar.
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For his part, Rodrigo Salazar, executive director of the CPP, agreed that the head of state is not tolerant of the press and neither is Prime Minister Aníbal Torres, who on several occasions has described it as a “thief”, “coup leader” and of being “at the service of the extreme right”.
For Salazar, Castillo is the president least committed to freedom of expression since the dictatorial government of Alberto Fujimori.
The IAPA report reviews threatening statements by the current authorities and acts that attacked journalists on different occasions.
He also warned that the Prosecutor’s Office opened “investigations against journalists for the mere fact of reporting, in addition to persecuting citizens for their political positions during the 2021 presidential elections.”
