In the midst of a scandal over allegedly slapping a man who called him “corrupt,” President Alan García blamed the media for the incident, Peru.com reports. He claims the media is inciting the population against the government.
During the chaotic episode that began with the police and military protesting and ended in what President Rafael Correa called a coup attempt, Ecuador's media was forced to simulcast the official version of events via a forced link with the state's official channels, reported El Mundo.
Alfredo Felipe Fuentes has arrived in Madrid with 10 family members following his release from prison Oct. 8, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports. Thirteen political prisoners including 17 journalists have been released from Cuban prisons since President Raúl Castro agreed in July to free 52 people.
The judge presiding over Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Court, Wilfredo Ovando, rejected efforts by journalism groups to hold a referendum on two controversial articles in the recently approved anti-racism law, EFE reports. The new rules were signed into law by President Evo Morales last week, igniting protests from activists and journalists who argue the law violates freedom of expression.
Franklin Martins, the minister in charge of government advertising and relations with the media, said that Brazil was preparing a media bill that will reach Congress before the end of the year, BBC Brasil reports. According to O Estado de S. Paulo, the proposal includes the creation of a government agency in charge of regulation.
Press groups, opposition politicians, and Jewish community leaders demanded that economics minister Amado Boudou retract his statements to two journalists, La Razón reports. According to Télam, the minister has since recanted, saying that his remarks were inappropriate.
Panamanian journalists have joined forces to demand more respect for freedom of expression and to express objections over legal setbacks in the area, reported La Prensa.
Confronted with the outcry from journalists and the media over the unprecedented banning of two journalists condemned of defamation from working for one year, the president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, said he is committed to freedom of expression and promised to pardon both journalists, reported EFE and Crítica.
Former President Álvaro Uribe has assumed “legal and political responsibility” for actions taken by his former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno, one of nine former senior officials sanctioned for the espionage scandal involving wiretaps and illegal surveillance of judges, opponents, and journalists, Colombia Reports, Associated Press, and El Espectador report.
A federal appeals court has overturned the acquittal of Sabrina Bacal and Justino González in separate suits for libel and injury. They were both sentenced to 12 months in prison and banned from practicing journalism for a year Hora Cero reports.
Laureano Márquez will be one of the journalists to receive an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) in November for having “risked their freedom and security to report the truth as they see it in their countries.”
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN–IFRA) has urged President Cristina Fernández to respect international standards of freedom of expression and to cease “the attacks by her government against independent media,” La Gaceta de Tucumán reports. See the association's statement in English.