Peruvian journalist known for his reporting on rebel groups, government corruption, and drug trafficking. In 2011, the European Journalism Centre described him as having “been awarded more prizes than probably any other Peruvian journalist”.
While working for the weekly Caretas in 1992, he reported links between the Fujimori government and narcotics traffickers, particularly implicating Vladimiro Montesinos, President Alberto Fujimori’s “strong man”. Anger over the articles led a commando squad from the Peruvian army to break into his home and abduct him during the 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis, in which Fujimori dissolved Congress and detained several opposition figures. He was released on 8 April, two days after his initial abduction.
In 2009, Fujimori was convicted by a Peruvian court for ordering the Gorriti kidnapping, among other human rights abuses, and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Following his release, Gorriti left Peru. He then worked for a time in the USA, first as a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. and at the University of Miami’s North-South Center in Miami. Gorriti moved to Panama in 1996, reporting there for La Prensa. He began writing again about links between government officials and drug traffickers, and again was the target of threats.
Gorriti later returned to Peru, working for the daily newspaper Peru21 as well as becoming the journalist in residence at the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL). In 2009, he launched Idl Reporteros, an experimental investigative journalism site. A nonprofit endeavour funded by NGOs, the site employed four full-time journalists as of 2011.
Gorriti is married with two children. He is a six-time national judo champion.
Link to Wikipedia biography