Peruvian journalist sued by judge for defamation, ordered to pay a $14,500 fine

Bogotá, July 28, 2026—Peruvian judicial authorities must stop harassing journalist Carlos Yofré López for an old case and allow reporters to do their jobs without fear of unfounded defamation lawsuits, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday.

On July 20, an appeals court in the Pacific coast province of Huaura upheld a lower court decision that found López guilty of civil defamation and ordered him to pay 50,000 Peruvian sols (USD $14,500) to Juana Caballero, a judge in Huaura, according to a copy of the decision obtained by CPJ.

“The abusive use of the justice system against journalists serves two purposes: to intimidate them and to strangle them financially,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ Latin America program coordinator. “The chilling effect that this engenders is damaging to Peruvian journalists and is detrimental to press freedom in the country.”

The case stems from a 2017 report for the independent Radio Antena 9 and the Facebook-based news website Barranca Noticias in which López alleged that Caballero may have accepted a bribe to overturn the corruption conviction of a local politician and that, as a judge, her assets had increased by 600% within a year, according to Peru’s National Association of Journalists, or ANP.

Caballero denied any wrongdoing and claimed that López had damaged her reputation and filed a criminal defamation lawsuit in 2018. After numerous delays, the criminal charges were thrown out but the civil caseagainst López continued. López told CPJ that he plans to file a final appeal before Peru’s Supreme Court and that he may seek redress from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. 

“A conviction would ruin my reputation and my finances,” López told CPJ.  

In a separate case in July 2025, an appeals court judge in Huaura upheld a lower court decision convicting López of defaming Victor Reyes, the former president of Huaura’s superior court of justice. Reyes sued López in 2019 after the journalist reported on a sexual and workplace harassment complaint against Reyes. 

The appeals court ordered López to pay Reyes 100,000 soles (USD $29,000) in civil damages but the journalist told CPJ that he has also filed a final appeal before Peru’s Supreme Court in this case.

A May 2026 special report by CPJ found that government hostility toward news media, including widespread judicial harassment, has contributed to a steady erosion of press freedom in Peru.