Angel Paez, Peru, is the founder of Peru's first investigative reporting team and has been working as its chief and editor at La Republica since 1990.
Paez has uncovered the secret arms deals of the Peruvian government, including the purchase of fighter aircraft from Belarus from during Peru’s 1995-98 border dispute with Ecuador.
He also revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency gave ex Peruvian spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos at least $10 million in cash, as well as high-tech surveillance equipment that he used against political opponents of the Alberto Fujimori regime (1990-2000). Based on interviews with gun seller Sarkis Soghanalian, Paez reported on the involvement of Fujimori and Montesinos in the smuggling of AK-47 rifles to the FARC. And also discovered that Fujimori paid a $15 million bribe to Montesinos.
Paez has been subjected to intense government pressure, including attacks by state-sponsored media, and death threats.
Paez won the 1998 Samuel Chavkin Prize for Integrity in Latin American Journalism. He is also dedicated to teaching investigative journalism at universities and workshops for journalists across the country.
