WASHINGTON, October 26, 1999 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has protested a campaign to defame Gustavo Gorriti, ICIJ member and associate editor of Panama's La Prensa newspaper, which CPJ said was being promoted by government officials and a group calling itself the "Committee for Freedom of Expression in Panama."

According to an October 26, 1999 alert from CPJ, the defamation campaign began after Gorriti’s investigative team at La Prensa published reports on Panamanian Attorney General Jose Antonio Sossa’s alleged drug connections. Sossa later initiated a move by the Independent Lawyers’ Association to declare Gorriti, a native of Peru, persona non grata in Panama.

Carlos Jones, another lawyer implicated in Gorriti’s articles, said that “Gorriti is more than a journalist, he’s an infiltrated agent disguised as a journalist.” An anonymous group calling itself the “Committee for Freedom of Expression in Panama” put up posters around Panama City, depicting Gorriti in a cowboy hat, with the caption: “Get to know the assassin of press freedom in Panama.”

According to La Prensa reports, journalists from other newspapers have been offered money to write negative articles about Gorriti and his paper.

This is not the first time that Gorriti’s investigations have had strong repercussions. He was forced to flee Peru after a 1992 investigation into alleged drug connections to President Fujimori’s close associates led to his arrest and two-day “disappearance.” Since moving to Panama in 1996, Gorriti has successfully thwarted previous attempts by authorities to deport him for his investigations.

Gorriti won CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 1998.