Vicky Peláez, a Peruvian journalist based in New York, is among 10 people the United States has arrested and accused of being secret agents for Russia, reported the Associated Press. The network of informants supposedly was dedicated to recruiting political sources and compiling secret information to send to Moscow, added El País.
Mayoral candidate Luis Cáceres Velásquez in the Peruvian city of Arequipa cussed at and then punched the face of radio reporter Huber Ocsa Llacasi, knocking his glasses off, after the journalist asked Cáceres why he did not leave an event that he was not invited to, reports Correo.
Segundo Carrascal Carrasco, editor of the weekly Nor Oriente, was released by the Supreme Court of Lima, after spending more than five months in prison for defamation, Crónica Viva reports.
José Enrique Crousillat and Genaro Delgado Parker, who were two of the most powerful men in Peruvian TV, are now fugitives from justice. Crousillat shamelessly sold the editorial line of América TV (Channel 4) to the mafia of then-President Alberto Fujimori and his intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos; Delgado Parker dodged his continuing debts to his employees, drove Panamericana TV (Channel 5) into failure, and allegedly stole some of its trucks. Now, they’ve both escaped.
The station, La Voz de Bagua (The Voice of Bagua), is accused of inciting violence during disturbances in Peru's Amazon last June that left at least 30 people dead, EFE explains.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reports that its delegation will discuss alleged irregularities in the sale of América TV, the cancellation of radio station La Voz de Bagua's broadcast license, and crimes against journalists during its May 20-21 visit.
Beto Ortiz, a well-known local media figure, was dismissed from Frecuencia Latina (Channel 2) for “editorial differences,” and his column in Perú21 has been discontinued. In an interview with Dedomedio magazine, the journalist claims that his departure from both media is a way to censor him for his "impertinence" in reporting irregularities in the transfer of ownership of América TV (Channel 4) to the media groups of El Comercio and La República during the administration of President Alejandro Toledo.
Enrique Lazo Flores, editor of the newspaper La Región, in the southern city of Ilo, Moquegua, was accused of attacking the honor of a regional politician Renato Ascuña Chavera, the Crónica Viva site reports. The prison sentence was suspended, but organizations denounced it as a serious threat to freedom of expression.
A Lima court acquitted Luis Valdez Villacorta, the former mayor of Coronel Portillo, on charges that he had ordered the killing of journalist Alberto Rivera in 2004, the Associated Press reports.