Despite Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa's pardon, a court decided to move forward with the ruling against two Ecuadoran journalists accused of defamation and reject the presidential pardon.
Concerns about the state of press freedom have come to a head in the Caribbean nation of Grenada, as journalists allege continuing government intimidation and reporter Rawle Titus was fired seemingly because of direct political pressure from Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.
The National Commission of Telecommunications (Conatel) closed four radio stations and confiscated their transmission equipment in the state of Monagas, Venezuela, on Friday, March 30, reported the NGO Espacio Público.
An Uruguayan journalist said his cell phone was intercepted, as he noted that his contacts had been receiving calls from unknown persons coming from his phone number, reported the digital newspaper El Espectador on Sunday, March 31.
The Mexican Supreme Court acquitted five journalists accused of defaming a judge after reporting about construction irregularities at the new headquarters of the Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice, reported the magazine Zócalo.
Although about 800 journalists from 33 countries are covering Pope Benedict's visit to Cuba March 26- 28, the Cuban government denied visas for reporters and photographers from Florida and a journalist from the Spanish newspaper El País, according to reports by El Nuevo Herald and Diario de Cuba.
The Supreme Court of San Martín in Tarapoto, Peru, voided a journalist's prison sentence for defamation against a local mayor, reported the news site Crónica Viva.
Venezuelan newspaper employees from La Prensa de Barinas must provide the Bolivarian Intelligence Service information related to various investigations initiated after corruption allegations were published in the newspaper, reported El Universal on Wednesday, March 28.
Less than a week after a Brazilian court prevented a journalist from criticizing the administration of the governor of Mato Grosso, a court in Pará forced a blogger to remove all stories from her website about a city councilman from Belém, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported on Tuesday, March 20.
Various Venezuelan press associations issued statements criticizing the court decision that ordered the media to publish a technical report supplying evidence for previous stories published about water contamination in the central region of the country.
During an interview in Spain, Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa questioned the funding of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), reported the newspaper La Hora. "Do you know who funds Human Rights Watch, is it the Sisters of Charity, the Sinaloa Cartel?" Correa said to the Spanish journalist who was interviewing him.
The Mexican newspaper Diario de Juárez accused the Department of Public Safety of refusing to grant official advertising to the newspaper since February 20.