“These are difficult days for the press” says Pedro Vaca, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, during a visit to Peru

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(CNN Spanish) --

The special rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca, asked President Pedro Castillo and the President of Congress, María del Carmen Alva, to take measures to facilitate journalists' access to the headquarters of these two branches of government.

After meeting with Castillo, Vaca declared that he had transmitted to the president different complaints that he received from the press, in particular in relation to access to the Executive.

Upon leaving the Government Palace, and observing that a fence prevented the passage of journalists to the presidential headquarters, he said that he was very sorry to witness that situation and said again that he hoped that measures would be taken in this regard.

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In a statement, the Government Palace indicated that during the meeting with Vaca, the president ratified his "full respect for freedom of expression and of the press, assuring that his government is absolutely democratic."

The statement further states that "the head of state urged the representative of the IACHR that this entity continue to protect freedoms, but as long as it acts with truth and objectivity."

In his meeting with the president of Congress, Vaca also addressed the claims of the press since journalists cannot enter the headquarters of the Legislative Power since the restrictions that were imposed at the beginning of the pandemic.

Due to these restrictions, the press that covers legislative activity carries out its work from outside Parliament, under an awning where a television has been installed to follow some of the activities that take place in Congress.

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After his meeting with Alva, Vaca said that he was "not in agreement that this exists" and that the journalists had told him that it was "humiliating to see parliamentary activity from the screen."

"We hope that efforts are made to open the hemicycle as soon as possible and I trust that it can be so," added Vaca.

The Rapporteurship began its first official visit to Peru on Monday with the purpose of "reviewing the situation of freedom of expression in the country."

On Wednesday, CNN managed to speak briefly with Vaca, when he met with representatives of journalists' associations such as the Peruvian Press Council and said that they were "receiving very relevant information for our analysis."

In the same statement in which the Rapporteurship announced its visit to the country, it detailed that at the beginning of 2022 "it received communications from civil society organizations requesting that an official visit to Peru be carried out to monitor the situation of the freedom of expression and of the press in the country”.

CNN reported in March on this and on how the work of journalists in Peru was developing, in an environment that the Ombudsman's Office described as hostile, where the highest government authorities carried out "restrictions on freedom of the press."

According to Vaca, after his visit he will issue a report with recommendations on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression in Peru.

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