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.
The Ecuadorian government has asked cartoonist Xavier Bonilla, known as Bonil, to appear before the Superintendent of Information and Communication and explain the contents of an editorial cartoon published in newspaper El Universo that officials are calling defamatory. Seven months after Ecuador’s new Communications Law came into effect and created the office of the Superintendent, Bonil is the first media worker to be summoned by the new agency.
Trinidad and Tobago’s House of Representatives passed on Jan. 24 a bill that partially decriminalizes defamation. The bill will now proceed to the Senate for consideration.