Laura Bozzo

Laura Bozzo

Dr. Laura Cecilia Bozzo Rotondo (born 1951 in Lima) is a controversial lawyer and television talk show host of Italian descent who has become famous as a chat show hostess and for the feminist social views she expresses on her shows. She was born of Italian Peruvian descent, and has two daughters, Victoria and Alejandra.

The start of Bozzo's reign

Bozzo became well known in Latin America in the 1990s with her talk show Laura en América, in which she opposed what she calls "macho values". In her show, guests are often men who have allegedly cheated on their wives or partners, abandoned them when they became pregnant, or physically or mentally abused them. The men are often shocked when Bozzo shows them her own videotape of their questionable antics, with the familiar subtitles: "A hidden camera caught Juan with another woman" or "A hidden camera caught Armando mistreating his wife Theresa". Bozzo has also used her program at various times to criticize men and women who date much younger people.

The start of Bozzo's troubles

Bozzo has also gained notoriety with her own personal troubles. She once set up a charity to help abused women and children in Peru, but the organization was plagued by rumors that Bozzo was really milking the charity for her own personal gain. Bozzo also had a friendship with the former President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, while he was in office. She was romantically linked to one of Fujimori's top aides, Vladimiro Montesinos, who was arrested after Fujimori sought political asylum in Japan. Bozzo soon fled Peru and settled in Miami. A Peruvian court charged her with helping Montesinos steal public money.

Bozzo's height and fall

In 2001, Bozzo's fame only increased when a Spanish-language U.S. broadcast network, Telemundo, decided to broadcast her show on its U.S. affiliates. Laura en América soon began to be shown all over Latin America, and she even traveled to other Spanish-speaking countries—including Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico—to tape some shows.

Although on her own show Bozzo sometimes railed against so-called "May-December" relationships, it was reported that in Miami she herself had a male companion who was about 25 years younger than she. She is involved with an Argentine singer Cristian Zanchez. Ultimately, Bozzo decided to return to Peru to face the charges against her. Because her Lima home had been confiscated after she left for Miami, she has had to live in the Laura en América studios under court-ordered house arrest while her case was pending. Her companion moved to Peru to be with her. For a while, a Peruvian court allowed Bozzo to produce her show live from the studio. Later, a new court order mandated that she stop producing her show live, perhaps to prevent Bozzo from trying to use the show to turn public opinion in her favor.

Bozzo released

On July 17, 2005, Laura Bozzo was released from house arrest. Telemundo personnel from around Latin America, including Carmen Jovet from Puerto Rico, Ana María Polo (a Cuban judge based in Miami) and a Mexican TV host, went to Peru to greet her. The celebration was broadcast live as a special program in the countries where Bozzo's show is seen live.

The End of Bozzo on Telemundo

In 2006, it was widely reported that Laura Bozzo had not renewed her contract with Telemundo, possibly ending her five-year run with the network. Bozzo has desperately tried to get the attention of Mexican broadcaster Televisa in order to keep her show running. Perhaps due to her controversial reputation, Bozzo has not yet won a contract from either Telemundo or Univisión, the two main Spanish-language networks in the United States. Cristina, the host of a long-running Univision talk show, was quoted saying: "If that wannabe comes to Univision, then I will definitely take my talk show elsewhere." When her contract was not renewed, Bozzo stopped production on the program. It has also been confirmed that starting in fall 2006, the show will no longer be shown on the Telemundo network in its original format. Instead, the show is to be reedited with additional unseen footage and retitled Laura Sin Censura (similar to her pay-per-view specials that aired in 2006). The original Laura en América continues to be telecast on Telemundo in the 9 A.M. time slot.

In October 2006, on the Spanish network Antena 3's "¿Dónde estás corazón?", Laura Bozzo claimed that she is preparing a show for Spanish television. "There will be Laura for quite a while," she asserted. Yet in the same program she was roundly criticized for the violent, controversial nature of her talk show and how it had given Peru a bad image.

Bozzo convicted?

On July 11, 2006, just a few days before the one-year anniversary of her release from house arrest, Laura Bozzo was convicted of all the charges against her and was sentenced to four years in prison (to run consecutively). Laura later informed a local television station, Canal 9, that she planned to use a newly enacted law in her favor and sue the Peruvian government. She was quoted as saying: "This is a conspiracy against me....It's been proven that the court reached an unjust resolution, and that is why I am going to sue them before Interamerican Court."

The law the former talk-show host is relying on to file her lawsuit is from the Organization of American States (OAS). It stipulates that if there is a not a friendly agreement between two parties (in this case, Bozzo and the Peruvian Government), and it is determined that a right has been violated, the Court can offer its own recommendation. According to People en Español, Bozzo would not be imprisoned, although her sentence would force her to remain in her home unless she obtained prior authorization by a judge. She would also have to appear before a Peruvian court every three months.

Bozzo in 2007

In February 2007, Bozzo attempted to enter the Spanish TV market through Spain's Telecinco, but once some executives saw pilots of the program, a proposal for a new Bozzo show was canceled.

Although internationally famous, Laura Bozzo is controversial among many Peruvians for what they feel she has done to worsen the country's image. Bozzo's show has not been aired in Peru since various investigative programs revealed that she had paid participants for excessive behavior on her shows, including fighting.

References

• "Trapitos Sucios de Laura Bozzo al aire" (in Spanish). frivolidades. Retrieved 2007-04-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly=, |coauthors=, and |month= (help)