Freedom of the press in Peru has an impact on the freedom of the press in the country. Peru has had a changing political status that has affected press freedom in Peru. The following major historical events reveal the influence of political figures and historical events on the country's press freedom environment. Press freedom in Peru underwent its worst stage during the military regime, also known as the Peruvian Military Junta, led by Juan Velasco Alvarado that lasted from 1968 to 1980. The major impact of this political system in Peru was the closing and censorship of broadcast and print news media, as Velasco implemented a
Juan Bautista Alvarado was born in Monterey, Alta California, to Jose Francisco Alvarado and María Josefa Vallejo. His grandfather Juan Bautista Alvarado accompanied Gaspar de Portolà as an enlisted man in the Spanish Army in 1769. His father died a few months after his birth and his mother remarried three years later, leaving Juan Bautista in the care of his grandparents on the Vallejo side, where he and Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo grew up together. They were both taught by William Edward Petty Hartnell, an English merchant living in Monterey. In 1827 the eighteen-year-old Alvarado was hired as secretary to the territorial legislature. In