President Barack Obama is hosting his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderón this week on an official state visit to Washington that includes talks on bilateral issues such as immigration and drug violence on the U.S.–Mexico border. The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the leaders to put Mexico’s press freedom crisis on their agenda.
President Barack Obama signed a law this week requiring the State Department to monitor press freedom in all countries and to identify those governments that commit violations, The New York Times reports.
As part of an offensive against the black market for dollars, President Hugo Chávez urged supporters to use Twitter to blow the whistle on currency speculators and warned that illegal trading sites could be shut down the Associated Press reports.
An appeals court ruled that blogger Dania García would have to pay a $14 fine instead of serving a 20 month prison term for a family dispute, The Associated Press reports.
The offices of Televisa’s Canal 2 in Tepic, Nayarit (on Mexico’s central Pacific coast) were attacked with AK-47s and grenades, La Jornada reports. The facilities suffered damage, but neither of the two people in the offices were wounded, Europa Press adds. (See this Associated Press article in English.)
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reports that its delegation will discuss alleged irregularities in the sale of América TV, the cancellation of radio station La Voz de Bagua's broadcast license, and crimes against journalists during its May 20-21 visit.
In the first episode of a special series about violence against Mexican journalists in regions dominated by drug trafficking, CNN Mexico reports that 27 reporters have been threatened in Morelos state alone in central Mexico.
Tim Padgett reports in Time Magazine that two gunmen opened fire on Lucas Manzanares, a close aide to the publisher of one of Honduras’ leading newspapers, sparing him and his wife, who were driving in his pickup truck, but killing his daughter and granddaughter.
The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) invites community radio journalists and citizen reporters from Latin America and Spanish-language radio reporters in the United States to apply for two online training courses about digital media tools, IJNet reports.
Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, an outspoken Chávez opponent and former presidential candidate, had been in the intelligence service's custody since March 22 after saying in a TV interview that Venezuela had become a haven for drug trafficking. He was released from house arrest Thursday (May 14) and ordered not to leave Venezuela or speak about the case with reporters, AFP reports. He must present himself to the court every 15 days.
President Sebastián Piñera agreed to sell his TV channel Chilevisión to local private equity investors Linzor Capital for $130 million, Dow Jones reports, citing Chilean news reports. (See Spanish version of this post.)
A court injunction prohibits the newspaper Diário do Grande ABC—which covers seven industrial cities in Greater São Paulo—from publishing articles about a city government's questionable disposal of school furniture that was said to be in good condition, the newspaper reports. The National Association of Newspapers calls the injunction prior censorship.