Norwegian officials nominated Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez and Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá for the Nobel Peace Prize, reported the Spanish newspaper ABC.
The Cuban Union of Journalists (UPEC in Spanish), a syndicate aligned with the Cuban government, demanded greater access to information from official sources, according to a statement by the union.
In two separate events, police attacked journalists in Mexico on Jan. 30. A reporter from the newspaper Noroeste was beaten by judicial police and his camera was taken, reported the same publication. Hours later, the reporter recovered his camera but the officers had deleted the photos he had taken of a skirmish in which three soldiers died in the city of Guasave, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
Immigration authorities in Panama denied Canadian journalist Rosie Simms entry into the country on Jan. 21. Authorities alleged that her passport was invalid, despite its 2015 expiration date, according to Reporters Without Borders. After holding her for four hours and denying her access to consular services, they forced her to board a plane for the United States, reported the website Newsroom Panama.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro ranted against the foreign press for reporting on the Jan. 19th death of political prisoner William Villar who had been on a hunger strike while in a prison in Santiago de Cuba, according to the newspaper Diario de Cuba.
“Mexico is a magical country where there are murders, but no murderers,” said the Mexican poet Homero Aridjis, protesting the rampant impunity in crimes against journalists during an international delegation of writers -- including several Nobel laureates -- organized by the group PEN International, held Sunday, Jan. 29, in Mexico City. The group, including Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa and Toni Morrison of the United States, took out a full-page ad in the El Universal newspaper that was signed by 170 writers and
The series of recommendations to change the inter-American system of human rights, presented by the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on Jan. 25, would limit the authority of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), especially the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
O jornalista cubano José Antonio Torres, na prisão há quase um ano, será julgado em breve. Ele é acusado de crimes de corrupção, pelo quais pode ser condenado a 10 de detenção, informou o site Observatorio Crítico Desde Cuba.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced that he will send a bill to regulate the press during the inauguration of the new session of Congress, according to the Associated Press.
Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho, who exposed a child prostitution ring, and Roberto Saviano, author of the book "Gomorrah," were awarded the Swedish Olof Palme 2011 prize, reported the Associated Press.