On Thursday, Aug. 16, the Ecuadorian government confirmed that it would grant political asylum to Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who had sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom on June 19 after being under house arrest since December of 2010 in that country for being accused by the Swedish government of sexually assaulting two women in Stockholm in August 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported.
During the Paraguay Resists Social Forum, that took place in the Plaza of Arms, in front of the national Congress, in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 14 and 15, journalists and the Paraguayan press reported a campaign against public and alternative news media ever since President Fernando Lugo was removed from office on June 22 and replaced by Federico Franco in what some have referred to as an administrative coup, reported the newspaper Diario de Carlos Paz.
The Venezuelan NGO Espacio Público launched on Tuesday, Aug. 14, a campaign for the end of President Hugo Chavez's forced TV and radio broadcasts, reported El Universal.
On Monday, Aug. 13, the Red Cross International Committee reported that the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish) freed the journalist and engineer kidnapped by the guerrilla group on July 24. The victims were turned in to a humanitarian commission.
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner proposed an ethics law for journalists during a speech at the energy company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF in Spanish), claiming that the media were "mounting a campaign to tarnish the image" of the recently nationalized business. Kirchner cited recent articles published in the newspaper Clarín for her argument, reported HidrocarburosBolivia.com.
The Chilean government denied a passport to a journalist for the second time because of "opinion crimes" committed 61 years ago, during the administration of President Gabriel González Videla, reported the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP in Spanish).
A Brazilian photojournalist was arrested and handcuffed by a police officer while filming an accident involving a military police car that left five injured in Goiânia, on Thursday, Aug. 9, reported the news portal G1. The cameraman works for the TV station TV Goiânia in the state of Goiás.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and several other international press organizations took the opportunity to express their mounting concern over the state of freedom of expression in Argentina and Ecuador during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which took place on July 12 in Santiago, Chile, reported the news website Martí on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
In the state of Mato Grosso, in central-western Brazil, two Brazilian television stations were fined by the electoral court for broadcasting unfavorable reports about the administration of Mayor Juarez Costa of the city of Sinop, reported the newspaper Diário de Cuiabá on Thursday, Aug. 9.
Brazilian Minister Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court asked federal police to open an investigation into Wikipedia for its distorted and "ideological" posts, reported the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.