The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) documented the progress of jurisprudence on freedom of expression in the Americas in its recent report, “National Case Law on Freedom of Expression.” The report analyzes the time period from 2013 to 2016 in ten countries in the region.
Chilean-Venezuelan journalist Braulio Jatar, who has been in jail since Sept. 3, 2016, has been released and is under house arrest.
Mexican journalist Martín Méndez Pineda (26), who traveled to the United States to seek political asylum because he feared for his life, has been detained for more than 100 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
Considering the concentration of media ownership that has historically existed in Latin America – which threatens diversity and pluralism in that sector – UNESCO has recommended that States seek a balance between the rights of broadcasters and the audience.
The first lady of Brazil, Marcela Temer, has dropped her case against newspapers O Globo and Folha de S. Paulo, according to O Globo.
SIP Alert, a mobile phone app currently in its pilot phase, is an initiative developed by newspaper El Universal and TV Azteca of Grupo Salinas in Mexico, to be used by journalists from the 1,300 media outlets across Latin America affiliated with the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).
The 33 journalists and media workers murdered in the Americas during 2016 represent an increase in censorship and corruption in the countries of the Americas, according to the annual report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
2016 was a critical year for the exercise of journalism in the world, according to the annual reports of three international organizations that promote freedom of expression and the press.
Venezuelan journalist Yonathan Guédez was released on April 26 after being detained for 16 days at one of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).
Young Venezuelan journalist Yonathan Guédez (22), arrested on April 10 along with 30 protesters in one of the Venezuelan social demonstrations against the recent measures adopted by the Supreme Court, remains in prison, according to various local and national media outlets.
There are 1,738 magistrates, judges and other justice operators from Latin America who have been accepted to take part in the fifth edition of the course “International legal framework on freedom of expression, access to information and protection of journalists,” which will start May 8. Applications are still open for the course, which will be conducted in Spanish.
In the final days of March 2017, several journalists were assaulted during anti-government protests in Venezuela, but recent attacks on journalists in this country have not been exclusively physical. Earlier in the month, a series of cyberattacks forced several Venezuelan independent media outlets to temporarily shut down their websites.