By Alejandra Garcia and Bill Hackwell – Oct 7, 2025
The 2024 Shadow Report on Press Freedom in Latin America, prepared by the Voces del Sur network, reveals an alarming scenario for Peruvian journalism: the government has emerged as the main aggressor against the press in 2024.
According to the national chapter prepared by the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), 85.1% of the alerts against press recorded in the country originated from state actors, representing an increase of 23.8 percentage points compared to the previous year.
The report documents 52 alerts in Peru, most of them linked to restrictive legislative proposals, judicial proceedings, and attacks from political authorities. Among the most concerning measures are the proposal to increase prison sentences for defamation to up to six years for the media, and the mandatory professional licensing of journalists. These are initiatives that IPYS deems contrary to international standards on press freedom and freedom of expression.
It is no wonder that the usurper president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, and her corrupt colleagues would be more than a little paranoid of all media with any semblance of fair and honest reporting, given her corruption and her historically low approval rating of only 2%.
Lima accounts for 75% of all these cases, although the organization warns of probable underreporting in regional and rural areas, where self-censorship and a lack of formal complaints limit the visibility of attacks.
The Shadow Report also highlights the growth of anti-press rhetoric from those in power. Verbal and stigmatizing attacks increased compared to 2023, rising from one to five recorded incidents.
“The ultra-conservative mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaga, has positioned himself as one of the main promoters of this hostile narrative,” the report states, “repeatedly using expressions such as ‘caviar press’ and ‘corrupt, sold-out press’ to discredit media outlets and journalists.” Such messages, it adds, are amplified by government spokespeople, that works away at the public trust in journalism.
At the same time, restrictions on access to public information increased from one alert in 2023 to seven in 2024. One of the most serious cases occurred when Congressional President Alejandro Soto banned journalists from attending a session of the Permanent Commission, a measure that IPYS described as “arbitrary and deliberate,” exemplifying a pattern of institutional opacity.
The use of the judicial system as a tool to silence journalists has also intensified. In 2024, 14 civil and criminal proceedings were filed against journalists: twice as many as in 2023.
A notable case is that of Paola Ugaz, who faces seven simultaneous lawsuits over her investigations into abuses within the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, a Catholic religious organization that was eventually dissolved by the Vatican. The report describes her situation as an “example of censorship by attrition,” in which political and judicial powers seek to wear down journalists emotionally and financially in order to suppress investigative reporting.
Meanwhile, in 2025, the figures and cases of attacks known to date have shown a considerable increase in state violence against the media. The Peruvian Press Council documented a number of critical cases in September 2025 alone.
During protests against the current regime of Dina Boluarte, nearly 20 journalists were injured, and there were reports that police officers fired pellets at some of them, in addition to equipment theft and intimidation. Freelance journalist Jorge Ballon reported that a police officer pushed him and threatened him: “He shoved me, pushed me, and I fell backwards. Then he smashed my cell phone, which I was using to record, and pushed me again,” the document states.
These direct attacks, along with death threats such as those made by the mayor of Lima against journalist Gustavo Gorriti—(“we have to ‘take care of Gorriti,’”)—reveals a hostile environment where the physical integrity and lives of journalists are at risk.
Police officers shot rubber pellets, tear gas hitting 16 journalists, and threw rocks as they sought to disperse protests on September 20 and 21 against President Dina Boluarte, according to a report by the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP). The report also noted that officers blocked escape routes and confiscated reporters’ phones.
The National Association of Journalists warned on October 2 that in 2025, it has already documented the murder of two journalists and more than 200 attacks against the press in different regions of the country, including police abuse committed against our reporter, Juan Zapata.
A Growing Regional Pattern
The situation in Peru is not an isolated case. The 2024 Shadow Report documents 3,766 incidents of violence against the press across 17 monitored countries, with state actors identified as the main perpetrators.
In countries where democratic institutions are eroding—such as El Salvador, and Paraguay—judicial persecution, indirect censorship, and media stigmatization have evolved into sophisticated mechanisms of information control. This regional trend, warns Voces del Sur, threatens citizens’ right to information and jeopardizes journalism as the basis of democracy in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported today that over 300 journalists have been killed in Palestine since the Israeli entity’s escalation of genocide from October 7, 2023 onwards; it is not a stretch of the imagination that these reactionary repressive Latin American governments like Peru, Argentina, El Salvador, and others, see that as a green light to dismiss critical journalists in their countries, one way or another.
