The Association of Caribbean Media Workers asked Caricom -- an organization that promotes cooperation among Caribbean nations -- to discourage its 15 members from participating in a meeting of the Organization of American States
Impunity continues to be one of the most serious problems facing freedom of expression in Latin America and the Caribbean, according the International Freedom of Expression Exchange in Latin American and Caribbean's (IFEX-ALC) Annual Report on Impunity 2012.
The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
Non-profit organizations and leaders from 15 media organizations in Latin America participated in a meeting to express their concern about a series of proposals that would weaken the Inter-American Human Rights System
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) said that the first months of 2013 have been "disastrous" for freedom of information in Peru, according to a report published by the organization on its website.
The National Press Association of Bolivia, or ANP, described new rules in the country's law against human trafficking as an "attack" on freedom of expression and the "confiscation" of media outlets' financial resources, news portal Los Tiempos reported.
The Uruguayan government has opened up six frequencies to community radio stations after a public call for proposals, said the website Voces.
Ecuadorian newspaper El Diario reported that unknown men impeded the circulation of their Feb. 25 edition in the cantons of Pedernales and Jama, in the northeastern province of Manabí.
The Attorney General of Peru has asked a journalist to reveal the source for his latest story, said the website Crónica Viva. Carlos Ampuero Ferrerira, from the newspaper La Región, received the request from the Attorney General of the province of Maynas, added the website.
In Brazil defamation currently carries a minimum sentence of only three months, but that could change to two years if a penal code reform project currently being discussed in the Senate is approved.
The Andean Foundation for Social Observation and Media Studies, Fundamedios, said that its Twitter account had been suspended for six days “without warning and without explanation.” Although the account has already been reactivated, the organization said that the closing was still worrying because of its “arbitrariness,” it said on its website.
A Brazilian court ruled on Wednesday, Feb. 20, that the blog "Falha de São Paulo," a parody of the Folha de São Paulo newspaper will remain offline, reported Carta Capital.