“The Legislative Assembly approved this Tuesday, March 5, a reform to the Penal Code to sanction with ten to fifteen years in prison those who through the media ‘reproduce or transmit messages or communications’ from gangs. This prohibition covers the dissemination of 'texts, paintings, designs, drawings and graffiti' of gangs, according to the reform approved […]
"Guatemalan authorities should immediately drop criminal charges against journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc, a correspondent for local news outlet Prensa Comunitaria, and stop using the country’s justice system to harass and silence the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On January 14, a criminal court judge in Puerto Barrios, in the eastern Guatemalan department […]
"A team from Repórter Brasil was waiting for an answer to a request for an interview at the headquarters of the British mining company Brazil Iron, in Piatã (Brazil), when it was approached by two military police officers on March, 28, because the journalists had allegedly invaded private property. As the crime did not take […]
"The Association of Argentine Journalistic Organizations (ADEPA) and the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) expressed their concern tonight about the Government's initiative through which it would aim to regulate opinions on social media. Through communiqués, both entities criticized the declarations of the Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz, and warned that "this type of initiative implies […]
"The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, with a large pro-government majority, decreed an exceptional regime this Sunday, March 27, as a result of an 'excessive increase' in homicides attributed to gangs and that claimed the lives of 76 people in two days, which is a record in the country's recent history. [...] The Legislative body, […]
"Nicaraguan authorities should release publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro from prison immediately, and should ensure that members of the press do not face criminal penalties for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, March 23, at the end of a three-day closed-door trial, a judge in a Managua court found Holmann, […]
"Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo lost the right to access confidential information on the expenses card of the Presidency. The president of Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Minister Humberto Martins, revoked the decision of a regional court that allowed the newspaper to have access to data on the presidential expenses card from […]
"The ninth judge of the criminal trial district of Managua, Luden Martín Quiroz García, confirmed the sentences of between 7 and 13 years in prison requested by the Public Ministry [of Nicaragua] against the five implicated in the case known as Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (FVBCH). (...) Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, former director of the […]
"Through a statement issued on March 14, from its headquarters in the city of Miami, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its concern about the current situation faced by the media working in Nicaragua. IAPA warned that in that country, from the official institutions of the Ortega regime, freedom of the press is being undermined […]
"During a Wednesday [March 16] hearing, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will examine the large-scale use of the Pegasus spy program to monitor journalists and members of civil society in El Salvador. The move follows a joint investigation by the organizations Access Now and Citizen Lab published in January, which identified the use […]
"The Venezuelan NGO Espacio Público detected 31 violations to the right to freedom of expression last February in 19 different cases, which equals more than one per day on average, according to its monthly report published on March 7. Cases of censorship were the most frequent, with 18 incidents, followed by administrative restrictions (6) and […]
"The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) demanded the immediate release of three directors of the newspaper La Prensa and two journalists convicted for their defense of freedom of expression and of the press in Nicaragua. Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager of La Prensa and Vice President of IAPA for Nicaragua, has been imprisoned since Aug. […]