Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calledCuban authorities to release independent journalist Juliet Michelena Diaz, who was arrested on April 7. Diaz was arrested three days before an article she wrote on an episode of police violence she witnessed in La Habana was set to run in Cubanet, a news site based in Miami. The article detailed the use of police dogs in the streets and the arrest and excessive use of force against citizens.
Honduran journalist Julio Ernesto Alvarado, from television channel Globo TV, was sentenced to 16 months of prison for defaming Belinda Flores Mendoza, dean of the School of Economic Sciences at the Autonomous University of Honduras.
The Colombian newspaper association Andiarios on April 1 sent 52 tons of newsprint paper from Cartagena to Venezuelan newspapers affected by the lack of printing paper in the country.
Three reporters resigned from Venezuelan TV station Globovisión on Mar. 28 in protest against the channel’s alleged censorship practices and the dismissal of their team of cameramen and technicians.
The Information and Communication Superintendence, the government department responsible for regulation the media in Ecuador, decided on Tuesday March 25 to fine Diario Extra 10 percent of its average income for the past three months for failing to rectify headlines in two cases.
Ecuadorian authorities issued last week an order to detain journalist and activist Fernando Villavicencio after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Villavicencio was found guilty of defaming President Rafael Correa, press freedom organization Fundamedios reported.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court has ruled that intelligence officials broke the law when they tapped into a journalist’s telephone line, the Tico Times reported.
Members of the Venezuelan news chain Cadena Capriles protested against the censorship of Laura Weffer’s investigative piece on the demonstrations that have taken place for over a month in the country.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) called on the authorities of Barbados to drop criminal charges against three employees of the newspaper The Nation, who had allegedly violated the country's Protection of Children Act by publishing an indecent photograph of minors.
On February 12th, violent protests in Caracas led to the deaths of three people. Eyewitnesses sent video footage and photographs to the newspaper Ultimas Noticias, which then published them online. The footage shows both security forces in uniform and people dressed in civilian clothing opening fire on protesters, quite a different account than the one presented by official media.