On Wednesday, July 27, an Ecuadoran court found journalist Freddy Vidal Aponte guilty of fraudulent insolvency after not paying compensation for moral damages to the ex-mayor of Loja, a city south of the capital Quito.
Julio San Francisco, part of the Cuban Movement for Independent Journalism, narrates the creation and disappearance of the first private and independent news agency on the island, Havana Press, in a new digital book.
A Peruvian appeals court has reduced the prison sentence for journalist Paul Garay from three years to 18 months, but has confirmed that he will remain in jail, reported Crónica Viva.
The editor of the Bolivian newspaper "Sol de Pando," Wilson García Mérida, announced he is filing a lawsuit against the governor of Pando, in the northeast of Bolivia, for confiscating 2,000 copies of the newspaper.
Peruvian newspaper Correo criticized Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's visit to Peru at the invitation of the Andean nation's new president, Ollanta Humala, to attend the Ceremony of the Assumption.
On Thursday, July 28 the Bolivian Senate approved the controversial Telecommunications, Information Technology and Communication Law. The law gives the state majority control of electronic media, according to local press.
Brazil’s Senate president, José Sarney, blocked an attempt to censure Senator Robert Requião, who forcefully took a journalists tape recorder, erased what was on it, and threatened to hit the media worker during an April interview, G1 reports.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sent an open letter to Ollanta Humala, Peru’s new president, asking him to follow through on his campaign promise to decriminalize media offenses and end existing legal cases against journalists, EFE reports.
As tempers simmered over the sentencing of newspaper employees for defaming Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, one citizen decided to file a similar lawsuit. But this time it was against President Correa for comments the head of state made about him, Hoy reports. Executives and a columnist of El Universo were sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $40 million in damages to the president.
A court in El Salvador has ruled against Colonel José Arturo Rodríguez Martínez in his defamation suit against La Prensa Gráfica newspaper for an article alleging he had ties to Mexican drug traffickers, El Mundo reports.
A court temporarily stayed a libel and slander case against Grisel Bethancourt, the president of Panama's National Journalism Guild (CONAPE), over an article with judicial information about the slaying of a girl, TVN News reported.
Peru’s Congress has passed a bill replacing prison time for defamation and libel offenses with fines and community service, Perú.com reports. The change was passed June 21, but it still needs the president’s signature to become law.