A judge in a Peruvian court issued an order to intercept the phone calls of eight journalists and a congressperson, reported the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish).
On Wednesday, June 6, the National Association of Journalists of Peru reported that on May 24, a judge from the department of Ancash emitted a sentence against a journalist for alleged defamation of a public official of the province. The sentence was suspended as long as the journalist follows certain rules, including "rectifying" damages within 15 days.
The 42nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) ended on Tuesday, June 5, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, by welcoming the polemic recommendation to reform the Inter American System of Human Rights, presented by Venezuela and Ecuador, that amounts to nothing more than an attack on freedom of expression, said the Los Angeles Times. The OAS decided to put off application of the reforms for six to nine months to discuss the decision with parties involved, reported the news agency EFE.
On Wednesday, June 6, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the threats and attacks against Venezuelan journalists and news media, reported the newspaper El Universal.
Political columnist Katia D’Artigues of the Mexican newspaper El Universal said that she and her son received many death threats via Twitter warning her to stop criticizing presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI in Spanish), reported the Program for Freedom of Expression of the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET in Spanish).
On Tuesday, June 5, two Peruvian journalists were sentenced to two years in prison and fined to pay more than $22,000 each to the former Interior Minister, Antonio Ketín Vidal Herrera, who accused the journalists of "alleged defamation" on January 12, 2011, reported the Press and Society Institute.
DIssident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez filed a request with the country's Ministry of the Interior for an explanation of why the Office for Immigration and Foreigners’ Affairs denied her permission to leave the island and travel abroad, reported El Nuevo Herald.
Rights Court, and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. The letter was sent in anticipation of the 42nd OAS General Assembly, June 3-5 in the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia, where different proposals will be discussed to change the Inter American human rights system, according to the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. The proposals caused concern among diverse human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, which said that these changes would weaken the Human Rights Commission, reported the news agency AFP. On May 10, the OAS General Secretary, José Miguel Insulza, said that the human rights def
A Guatemalan subsidiary of the Spanish hydroelectric company Hidralia Energía released a warning that it would take legal and criminal actions against those who spread defamation and libel against the company, reported the Center of Informative Reports of Guatemala.
A day after the organization Amnesty International complained in its annual report about freedom of press restrictions in Venezuela, the U.S. government said that the Hugo Chavez administration has been persecuting the Venezuelan press, in a Human Rights report published on Thursday, May 24, reported the portal Terra.
In a report by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. heavily criticized the Argentine government for limiting freedom of press in the country, and said that there is too much violence against the press and opposition journalists, accusing the government for being responsible for several measures that do not allow for freedom of expression in Argentina, reported the newspaper Clarín.
In what appears to be a measure to silence the Ecuadorian press, President Rafael Correa asked for Ecuadorian citizens to boycott the press, reported the news agency AFP.