A Brazilian photographer was arrested after refusing to delete photos of police attacking two young people participating in a gay pride parade on Oct. 16, in the city of Itabuna, Bahia, reported the newspaper Correio 24 horas.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) expressed concern about possible attacks by Chilean security forces against freedom of information on the eve of more student protests on Oct. 18.
About 200 neighbors and employees are standing watch night and day at the offices of a TV news station in the city of El Alto (on the outskirts of the Bolivian capital of La Paz) after a labor union threatened to physically seize the station, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Cuban human rights activist Laura Pollán died on Friday, Oct. 14 of respritory complications in a hospital in the Cuban capital, Havana, reported The New York Times. Pollán was the outspoken leader of the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White), a group that demanded the release of political prisoners in Cuba.
A Colombian court sentenced the newspaper Cundinamarca Democrática's founder and editor to 20 months in prison and a $5,500 fine for criminal libel, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Brazilian television journalist Paulo Benito lost his contract with SBT affiliate TV Allamanda in the state of Rondônia on Oct. 6, after he was accused of "merchandising" for a politician, according to the website Gazeta de Rondônia.
An Ecuadoran court suspended journalist Emilio Palacio's three-year prison sentence and $40 million fine for defaming the Andean country's president, Rafael Correa, reported BBC Mundo.
Journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias of the Hablemos Press agency was detained on Sept. 30 and is currently awaiting expulsion from the Cuban capital of Havana to his hometown of Camagüey in the east of the communist country.
The director of the site Código Venezuela, journalist Milagros Socorro, announced that hackers attacked her blog, Twitter and e-mail accounts in retaliation for criticizing President Chavez's communications ministry, reported the website La Patilla.
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa threatened to bring yet another charge against the embattled newspaper El Universo after it published a provocative letter by an assembly member, according to the group Fundamedios.
Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, an ex-journalist, came out in support of a reform to decriminalize slander, libel and defamation in the Central American country, reported the newspaper El Diario de Hoy on Oct. 1.
Brazilian journalist Marcos Antônio Moreira, owner of Super Site Good, was ordered to pay damages of over $12,000 (BR$ 21,800) to the ex-inspector general of justice for the state of Mato Grosso, Orlando Perri, reported MidiaNews.