ABC newspaper reports that its journalist, Jorge Torres, is being sued for defamation, libel, and slander for stories alleging misuse of funds by a federal agency in Paraguay.
Journalist Walter Vite, who was convicted April 27 to a year in prison and a $500 fine for allegedly libeling a mayor, has initiated a hunger strike to demand his release, the Associated Press and Ecuadorinmediato report.
While activists worldwide celebrated World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the violent death of a Peruvian radio journalist that same day was a stark reminder of the dangers faced by media workers. La República reports that Julio César Castillo Narváez was shot to death in the city of Virú, 340 miles to the northeast of Lima.
A total of 68 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, while another 13 remain missing, says a new report by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), El Universal reports.
Journalists from two Honduran radio stations suffered new acts of intimidation, adding to the climate of increasing violence and threats faced by opposition broadcasters in the country, El Pregón reports.
With less than a week left before a popular vote on judicial reforms and press regulation, President Rafael Correa continued to rail against the media, saying they “deceive, lie,” and are the biggest opposition to the referendum, AFP reports.
Unlike Mexico, where dozens of journalists have been killed in the last decade, Venezuelan journalists don’t work under a climate of constant threats to their lives, however they do face “systematic” pressure from the government, whose supporters are responsible for 28% of the attacks against the press, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports.
Barely more than a week after two Peruvian TV journalists claimed El Comercio fired them for failing to toe the party line, three reporters for Radio Líder resigned after reportedly being told to not criticize presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, Terra reports.
In response to the violent death of journalist David Niño de Guzmán, which has still not been ruled a homicide or suicide, Bolivian media workers have called for better working conditions and life insurance, AFP reports.
Several digital media outlets have begun a campaign in support of Colombian journalist Joaquín Pérez Becerra, a Swedish citizen who was extradited from Venezuela to Bogotá for alleged ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.