A group of journalists and defenders of freedom of expression called for Mexican citizens to protest the insecurity and violence faced by press workers in the country on Sunday, Feb. 23. The group announced their call to action through a press statement given in Veracruz on Sunday, Feb. 16.
Álvaro Dias, senator for the Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB-PR), asked the Brazilian Senate on Feb. 10 to consider giving protection to Fábio Porchat, the director of Porta dos Fundos, due to various death threats made against the satirist Brazilian humor site, G1 reported on Feb. 11.
More than 20 years after the fall of the dictatorships and civil wars that dominated Latin America, the region continues to be marked by a strong retaliation against the press, according to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) most recent annual index on the state of press freedom, which was published on Feb. 12.
Ecuador was the only Latin American country to be featured on the Committee to Project Journalists' annual Risk List, in which the organization highlights countries were press freedoms have been in decline.
The Mexican government's Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists reported having benefited 210 individuals and three non-profit organizations since its creation in November 2012.
The Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo published a correction to a cartoon by journalist Xavier Bonilla “Bonil” on Feb. 5, ordered by the country’s Superintendent of Information and Communication due to what they considered a violation of the country's controversial Organic Law on Communications.
A Mexican journalist accused the government of the state of Chiapas of trying to intimidate her news team through legal actions against a family member.
Mexican journalist Sofía Valdivia reported that she is being investigated by the country's Office of the General Prosecutor (PGR in Spanish) for posting on her Twitter account about the possible return of a criminal group in Oaxaca, news site Animal Político reported.
The Delegation for Racial and Intolerance Crimes (Decradi) of the Brazilian state of São Paulo will open an investigation into a controversial video posted by the online website Porta dos Fundos to determine if any laws protecting religious freedom were broken, O Globo reported.
Salvadorian authorities arrested Francisco Valencia, director of the newspaper Co Latino, late Thursday night. Valencia is accused of slandering a now-retired police chief in 1996, El Salvador.com reported.
Seventeen years after the murder of the Argentine photojournalist José Luis Cabezas, the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) called for those responsible for the crime be returned to prison.
Ecuador’s National Secretariat for Communications (SECOM) has placed the freedom of expression organization Fundamedios under its administrative control. The organization believes this action seeks to harass them and fears it could lead to its dissolution.