On Sunday, March 11, the Ecuadorian Association of Newspaper Publishers (AEDEP in Spanish) asked President Rafael Correa to end his campaign against the press and to focus instead on real problems that Ecuador is facing, reported the newspaper El Diario.
In the statement to the nation, which was published in most Ecuadorian newspapers, AEDEP said that crime, drug trafficking, floods, poverty, unemployment, and other problems are the main challenges that Ecuador suffers, reported the news site La Información.
AEDEP also argued that the lawsuit initiated by president Correa against the newspaper El Universo was "expensive" and "absurd,” reported the news site Clases de Periodismo.
The sentences against those involved in the case against the newspaper El Universo, as well as the case against the authors of the book “Big Brother”, were dropped by the Ecuadorian president, but the damage caused to press freedom and freedom of expression will remain in Ecuador, reported the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA). “The fact that president Correa said that ‘there is forgiveness, but it will not be forgotten' leads us to think that there still is this attitude to continue persecuting those who think differently or critique public officials," said the president of the Commission of Freedom of Press and Information for IAPA, Gustavo Mohme.
