This Sunday, January 7, it will be one year since photographer Aldair Mejía, from the EFE agency, received a pellet in his right shin that kept him away from journalistic coverage for several months. Mejía was in the southern region of Juliaca to cover protests against the Government of Dina Boluarte and was attacked by police. The next day, radio reporter Max Lanza The Dean, had a confrontation with an agent who told him: “And then they ask: why are they shooting me? They still victimize themselves.” On January 9, hours after both incidents, eighteen protesters were killed and more than one hundred injured, in the same region, with projectiles from shotguns, pistols and AKM rifles.
In February, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Peru threatened reporter Ernesto Cabral of the digital media The Encerrona for having requested information, through the Transparency Law, about the deaths of protesters in Ayacucho, Apurímac and Junín. “Our institutional image is being damaged,” they questioned. In March, journalist Liubomir Fernández, correspondent of the newspaper The Republic In Puno, he reported having been harassed by the forces of order for having reported that the death of six Army soldiers, drowned in the Ilave River, was due to the negligence of higher commanders who gave the order and not to the Aymara people.
These are just some of the 352 attacks that Peruvian journalists suffered in 2023 and that have been included in the annual report of the Journalist's Human Rights Office (OFIP) of the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP). This is the largest number of grievances against freedom of the press so far this century. In 2022, 303 cases occurred, in 2020 there were 239 episodes and in 2007, 212 were recorded.
Regarding this growing trend that threatens press freedom, the president of the ANP, Zuliana Lainez, says: “For the second consecutive year, there have been more than 300 attacks on journalists. A very graphic figure of what it means to do journalism in Peru. There remains the sensation of a concertation of actions. A beginning of the year, with critical episodes of social protest, in which reporters, photojournalists, and cameramen were deliberately targeted for attacks. In situations of flagrant human rights violations, the last thing we want is evidence that allows for the attribution of responsibility. The law enforcement forces acted on the ground and the Executive did its part with a protocol proposal for coverage in situations of public order disruption that was nothing more than one (more) attempt to parameterize journalistic activity.”
For the second consecutive year, the type of attack that has most threatened the work of men and women in the press has been threats and harassment, with 138 cases reported. This is followed by physical and verbal aggression with 127 and then obstacles to access to information and journalistic coverage with 25 episodes. There have also been 14 cases of intimidating speeches, ten judicial intimidations and nine work-related incidents, including harassment and dismissal.
Who are the main perpetrators of these attacks? According to the report, it is civilians, with 136 searches, and then security agents, involved in 106 cases. The most affected have been the digital media (162), then the television press (93), then the radio press (56) and, finally, the written press (41). In terms of gender, 206 attacks were reported against men, 83 against women and 63 against media outlets.
Renzo Chávez, general secretary of the ANP, demands protection for the union and highlights the work of those who practice the trade in the regions. “Reality shows that the journalist who covers the streets or does research is at greater risk of attack. The problem is that a precarious job like journalism only increases the level of vulnerability. We need protection to reduce risk. If we see the setting outside of Lima we will find Vallejo's poems portrayed. Abandonment, greater precariousness, repeated abuse and much more. The true heroes of journalism are in the regions more than in the capital,” he points out. In Lima, 208 attacks were recorded. In Trujillo (La Libertad) there were 19, in Tacna eleven were reported and in San Román (Juliaca) there were ten.
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