During its 66th general assembly meeting Nov. 5-9, 2010, in Merida, Mexico, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) voted in its new board of directors for 2010-2013.
Angélica Ramírez, a well-known host on a TV station in Huila department, was arrested Nov. 15, El Espectador reports. The police accused her of connections with the FARC guerilla organization and charged her with extortion, terrorism, and the illegal trafficking of weapons, El Tiempo explains.
Líbero newspaper’s Gustavo Peralta accused several police officers of “abuse of authority and battery,” La República reports. According to the journalist, the officers broke his arm while he was covering a soccer game on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Several journalists were tear-gassed and beaten by security at a hotel in Cancún that was the site of a Sunday explosion that left seven dead and 18 wounded, La Crónica de Hoy and El Universal report.
President José Mujica accused the Argentine and Uruguayan press of manipulating his statements, after he generated an uproar for calling Argentina “a country cut in two” by polarization, after attending the wake of former President Néstor Kirchner.
More than 350 journalists, instructors and students from 22 of Argentina’s 24 provinces attended the Fifth National and International Congress on Argentine Journalism, held Nov. 4–6, 2010, by the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA), a Knight Center partner.
The Bolivian government accused the Inter American Press Assocation (IAPA) – a group of media companies in the region – of “censoring and violating the freedom of expression of journalists and workers throughout its history,” Los Tiempos reports.
Carlos Fuentes, an independent journalist and social communications student, was briefly detained by the police for photographing a group of people on the stairs at a Caracas Metro station, which he planned to post on Twitter, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Noticias 24 report.
Mexico’s Foundation for Freedom of Expression (Fundalex) and the Cádiz Press Association (APC) signed an agreement that will allow threatened Mexican journalists to seek refuge in Spain, EFE reports.
The border state newspaper El Diario de Chihuahua announced that two of its photographers had to leave the country after being threatened for publishing a photo of a man who died in a car accident in Ciudad Juárez, El Universal and La Jornada report.
President Fernando Lugo vetoed proposed changes to the Telecommunications Law that would have restricted the signal strength of community radio and prevented stations from selling advertising, Última Hora and Terra report. The veto was announced Nov. 12.
The removal of journalist Fazeer Mohammed from his position as a TV host for the State-owned Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) has led to charges from activists and journalism groups that he was fired for his Muslim faith, the Trinidad Express reports.