In Chile, 2 more investigative outlets hit by politicians’ criminal defamation cases

Mexico City, November 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chilean authorities to stop the harassment and intimidation of journalists by politicians, who filed two separate criminal defamation cases against independent news outlets this week.

“We are increasingly concerned about the misuse of lawsuits and judicial powers in Chile, particularly criminal defamation cases against journalists who report allegations of corruption in the public interest,” said Jose Zamora, CPJ’s Americas director. “We call on authorities to drop the latest cases against El Ciudadano and Contra Poder and to allow the media to report freely.” 

The penalty for defamation under the criminal code is up to three years imprisonment. 

Governor Sergio Giacaman of central Biobío region filed a complaint about an allegedly defamatory social media post by the investigative outlet El Ciudadano in 2024 and named the newspaper’s director, Javier Pineda, and then-director, Josefa Barraza, as respondents.

The post has since been taken down, Pineda said when he made the news of the lawsuit public on November 3.

Barraza, who resigned from the newspaper in March after facing multiple lawsuits from politicians alleging defamation, told CPJ that the post was an image comparing Giacama’s record with that of his political rival ahead of a regional election, which Giacaman won in November 2024. 

In April, Giacaman filed the case in two Santiago courts, which rejected the case on the grounds it did not fall within their jurisdiction, the local online outlet Sabes reported. 

In May, it was accepted by the Guarantee Court of Concepción, the regional capital of Biobío region, but then rejected on appeal in October, and returned to Santiago’s 7th Guarantee Court, because El Ciudadano is based in the capital, Santiago, Sabes said. 

Barraza told CPJ that she received another criminal defamation complaint on November 7 from Sebastian Sichel, mayor of Ñuñoa, a municipality in the northeast of Chile’s capital, Santiago, after the investigative outlet Contra Poder, which she founded this year, reported on allegations of corruption in his administration.

In April 2024, Barraza was sued for defamation by a former congresswoman, Andrea Molina, for an article she wrote about Molina in El Cuidadano. The case was dismissed in June 2024, Barraza told CPJ.

CPJ’s emails requesting comment from Sichel and Giacaman’s offices did not receive any responses, nor did its text message to the judiciary of the Republic of Chile.