Hitmen ambush and kill reporter who lined corruption in Peru, journalist group says

Peruvian journalist Fernando Nunez, whose reporting dug into municipal corruption circumstances, was shot and killed by hitmen whereas getting back from an project, Peru’s Nationwide Affiliation of Journalists (ANP) mentioned Sunday.

Nunez, a reporter for the digital outlet Kamila TV, “was attacked by hitmen whereas driving a bike together with his brother” on Saturday, the ANP mentioned in a assertion on social media.

Nunez died immediately and his brother was in essential situation.

Nunez is the third journalist killed by organized crime in Peru in 2025, following the slayings of journalists Gaston Medina and Raul Celis. Medina, the proprietor and editor of a regional TV channel, was gunned down as he was leaving his home within the south-central metropolis of Ica.

The ANP known as for investigators to prioritize Nunez’s journalistic work as a chief motive for the crime.

The most recent incident “reveals an insupportable escalation of violence in opposition to those that train the correct to tell. Each life taken not solely represents a direct assault on journalism, but in addition on democracy and the citizen’s proper to be told,” the ANP mentioned.

“They’re killing us,” the ANP mentioned in a separate social media put up. “Violence in opposition to the press doesn’t cease and impunity continues to make manner for brand new assaults. We won’t normalize it. We won’t maintain quiet.”

Final week, a journalist was bodily assaulted and robbed whereas protecting a land dispute, the ANP mentioned.

Violent crime has been on the rise in Peru, the place 1,888 homicides had been reported in 2025 by means of October, a 13 p.c improve year-over-year in the identical interval.

Peru has seen a surge in crime lately, with organized crime and extortion-related murders taking off amid excessive ranges of post-pandemic poverty and unemployment, together with political instability and the rise of gang violence.

Peru ranked 125 out of 180 international locations on Reporters With out Borders’ Press Freedom Index for 2024, a “dramatic fall” in two years.