Peruvian press move

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34104, 17 March 1976, Page 21

Peruvian press move

(N.Z Press Assn—Copyright) LIMA, March 16. Peru’s Leftist military Government has decreed the immediate removal of the directors of the seven main Lima newspapers in an apparent move to further “socialise” the nation’s press. The seven directors had not been due to leave their Government-appointed posts until late July, when civic organisations representing the labour, farming, services, professional, and educational sectors, which now control the papers, are due to name their own directors. Eventually they will become free from Government restrictions. There has been no explanation yet of the sudden dismissals, which have been ordered by General Fran-

cisco Morales Bermudez, who has been President of Peru since August 29 of last year.

Peru’s largest dailies were expropriated by the military Government in July, 1974, and since then have been published under official direction. For the succeeding 13 months, the Government( virtually silenced all Opposition newspapers, closing down and deporting many journalists. General Morales Bermudez, who came to power after the removal of his military predecessor, General Juan Velasco Alvarado, relaxed pressure on a small, but vigorous, private press, by allowing exiles to return and small publications to print sometimes scathing criticism of the Socialist plans of the military regime.