Cuba is listed among the 10 top countries with the highest levels of press censorship worldwide, according to a recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report cites government control of the news media, Internet providers that block information, arbitrary detentions, and defamatory campaigns against independent journalists as the reasoning for the bad censorship record.
On Monday, April 30, during unrest at the La Planta prison, in Caracas, Venezuela, the country's minister of prison services, Iris Varela, told the state-run TV channel Venezuelana Televisión (VTV) that the private TV broadcaster Globovisión was spreading "malicious information" and an order was issued to seize the station's equipment and interrupt the channel's transmission, reported the National Association of Journalists (CNP in Spanish).
After the killing of Brazilian journalist Décio Sá, of the newspaper O Estado do Maranhão, on April 23, other local reporters and editors said that they also receive frequent threats, according to Último Segundo.
On Monday, April 30, the International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the recent series of verbal and physical attacks on journalists in Argentina, Honduras, and Panamá, allegedly by politicians.
Less than 15 percent of the world's population lives in a country with a full free press -- the lowest level in more than a decade, according to Freedom House's new report, Freedom of the Press 2012, released Tuesday, May 1. The global press freedom rankings were released to coincide with the May 3 celebration of World Press Freedom Day.
A Peruvian journalist was arrested for hacking into the emails of senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce, Foreign and Tourism and was accused of "alleged crimes of grand larceny, unauthorized access to a database and violation of correspondence".
Mexican immigration authorities raided the offices of a newspaper in the state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala, searching for undocumented immigrants on Wednesday, April 25, reported the news agency Proceso.
On Thursday, April 26, Paraguayan journalists gathered to demand better labor rights, the end of impunity, better quality of information, and more plurality among news media in the country, reported the Paraguayan Union of Journalists.
Roughly 1,500 journalists marched to the presidential palace of Panama to demand respect for freedom of expression on Tuesday, April 24, reported the Xinhua news agency.
During a session of the Peruvian Congress, the website for the newspaper Perú21 “was unexpectedly restricted" from all the computers in the congressional reporters' chamber, reported the Press and Society Institute.
On Thursday, April 19, the International Press Institute (IPI) announced plans to continue its campaign to decriminalize defamation in the Caribbean countries of Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, with missions to each country scheduled this summer.
On Monday April 23, as its mid-year meeting came to a close, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) concluded that the main difficulties confronting the press in the Americas are “crimes against journalists, and arbitrary and intolerant governments.”