Update (Oct. 27): A young Peruvian journalist who had been reported missing since Oct. 24 has been located in good health. Convoca, the news site where he works, said Aramís Castro Ramos' temporary disappearance was unrelated to his journalistic work.
Convoca posted the update to its Facebook page late Wednesday night and thanked the police and community for their help. Around the same time, Castro Ramos posted on Twitter that he was with his family and feeling well. He also thanked everyone for their messages.
Original (Oct. 26): No one has heard from the young Peruvian journalist Aramís Castro Ramos, one of the founders of Peruvian investigative and data journalism site Convoca, which was created in Lima in 2014. His most recent work was an investigation into a corruption scandal involving a former presidential advisor.
The 26-year-old journalist was last seen at 11 a.m. on Monday, when he left his workplace without his belongings, according to newspaper El Comercio.
Castro’s aunt, Giovanna Ríos, told El Comercio: “Some friends have told us that they saw him on Monday afternoon in the area of University Federico Villarreal (where he studied journalism), (…) but we could not confirm.”
At 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, Castro’s relatives reported his disappearance to the police station in Magdalena, the district of Lima where he lives, according to a Tweet from Convoca. El Comercio reported that police officers have started investigating the case.
Journalist Milgros Salazar, director of Convoca, asked authorities to “act quickly to locate" her colleague Aramís Castro.
Castro recently revealed, in a report published for Convoca on Oct. 16, the links of former presidential advisor to the current government, gastroenterologist Carlos Moreno, with a person who could have been involved in drug trafficking during the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), LaMula.pe reported. Moreno is currently under investigation by public prosecutors for corruption.
Castro’s family and friends are spreading images and information that might help to find him through social networks, La República reported.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
