In a move widely criticized by media watchdogs as an assault on press freedom, Peru’s Congress in June approved a report recommending criminal charges against prosecutors, state attorneys, and award-winning journalist Gustavo Gorriti, NF ’86, the founder and director of the Peruvian investigative media outlet IDL-Reporteros.
The report from the parliamentary Muñante Commission criticized a 2019 plea agreement between Peru and the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in relation to the international Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) corruption scandal. Gorriti and his colleagues investigated the case in depth, winning a 2019 Global Shining Light Award from the Global Investigative Journalism Network for their reporting.
More than 250 journalists and press freedom organizations from Latin America, the U.S., and Europe have signed a statement condemning the commission’s report as an abuse of power and an attempt to criminalize journalism. The open letter expresses support for Gorriti and his newsroom, including Romina Mella, IDL-R’s co-founder, managing editor, and an incoming 2027 Nieman Fellow, who was mentioned in the report and has been the target of disinformation and smear campaigns.
Groups speaking out in support of IDL-R include the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute. Gorriti received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 1998 and the 2025 World Press Freedom Hero Award, presented jointly by the International Press Institute and International Media Support.
Gorriti led IDL-R’s investigation of the Lava Jato case, which exposed widespread bribes made to politicians, businessmen, and officials across Latin America by the Odebrecht construction company. In Peru alone, Odebrecht financed four presidents and the then-leading opposition figure, Keiko Fujimori, all of whom faced legal penalties, including imprisonment or house arrest, as a result. Despite the scandal, Fujimori was recently declared the winner of a presidential runoff election and will be sworn in as Peru’s leader on July 28.
The Muñante Commission’s report accused Gorriti of bribery, influence peddling, and obstruction of justice, alleging that he would have offered media favors to influence decisions by Peru’s Prosecutor’s Office in the Lava Jato case. Press freedom advocates worldwide see the report as the latest attempt in a long-running campaign to discredit Gorriti’s reporting and punish him for his powerful exposés of political and judicial corruption.
Learn more:
- Statement of support for IDL-Reporteros, Gustavo Gorriti, and Romina Mella signed by journalists and press freedom advocates (in Spanish)
- CPJ, 230 partners condemn report seeking to criminalize Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti’s investigation (Committee to Protect Journalists)
- Peru: IPI alarmed by renewed attacks on World Press Freedom Hero Gustavo Gorriti (International Press Institute)
- Journalists from 18 countries condemn attack on free journalism perpetrated by the MUÑANTE Commission (IDL-Reporteros, in Spanish)
- Gustavo Gorriti, the journalist who exposed Lava Jato, faces a new criminal threat: “It is a disinformation and smear campaign.” (elDiario.es, in Spanish)
- Gustavo Gorriti: another investigator investigated, another harassment campaign in Latin America (Nieman Foundation, 2024)
