Alvaro Delgado

Surveillance

Alvaro Delgado was targeted with the Pegasus spyware on August 3, 2016. A forensic analysis of the phone conducted by Amnesty International’s Security Lab recovered a text message with a malicious link associated with NSO Group.

The message read: “Hello Alvaro, I’m writing to say hello and to send you this article from the Guardian that I think is important to republish.”

Who is he?

Alvaro Delgado worked for the Mexican weekly magazine Proceso until March 2021. His reporting focused on the government and he frequently wrote about the internal fights between members of the PRI, Mexico’s main political party.

In August 2016, he received a death threat on Twitter and filed a complaint with the general prosecutor. At the time, he had just published a book called “El Amasiatoby” about secret meetings held with members of Mexico’s opposing parties, the PAN and the PRI. He revealed that a pact had been concluded to assure a rotation of power between the two parties, which put the then president Enrique Peña Nieto in difficulty.

Today, Alvaro Delgado contributes to several daily newspaper, including El Heraldo de Mexico, and host a host a show on YouTube called “Los Pediodistas” for the SinEmbargo Al Aire channel.

His work

Response

Mexican authorities did not answer Forbidden Stories’ questions on the surveillance of journalists. NSO Group did not answer Forbidden Stories’ questions on specific targets but said it “will continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action based on the results of these investigations.”