El Salvador’s recently approved cybersecurity and data protection laws contain sweeping provisions that threaten media freedom and privacy rights, Human Rights Watch said. El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly, dominated by President Nayib Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), approved both laws on November 12, 2024. The cybersecurity law establishes a State Cybersecurity Agency (Agencia de Ciberseguridad […]
"A group of 25 civil society organizations from seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua) presented a report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on trends in indirect censorship of freedom of expression in the region. At the hearing “Affectations on the Right to Freedom of Expression […]
Since El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency in March 2022, local journalists and human rights organizations have raised concerns that Bukele has repeatedly renewed the state of emergency in a bid to systemically silence dissent and dismantle press freedom. The Salvadoran Journalists Association (APES) documented 311 attacks –including harassment, doxxing, threats, […]
"Venezuela has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since Nicolás Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of what rights groups say is an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president’s opponents. At least 40 people — mostly journalists and human rights activists — have had their passports annulled without explanation, according […]
Two journalists were assaulted during protests involving followers of former president Evo Morales and current president Luis Arce on Tuesday, September 17. The protests escalated into clashes in the community of Vila Vila. A reporter from Cadena A in Oruro was brutally beaten, while another from SEO TV was forced to cut his live broadcast, […]
“Venezuela's National Telecommunications Commission, an agency controlled by President Nicolás Maduro's government, ordered the closure of the radio station Victoria 103.9 FM of La Victoria, in Aragua state, alleging that it's authorization to broadcast had expired. [...] 'It was learned that the station had made a request for renewal of the concession, but did not […]
“Nicaragua has escalated its persecution of critical voices since 2018, pushing freedom of expression to a nearly nonexistent state, according to a joint submission to the United Nations by the Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other journalism and human rights groups. The submission, prepared for Nicaragua’s Universal Periodic Review in 2024, documents the government’s […]
“Antonio Di Giampaolo has hosted his popular radio news program En el Aire, Spanish for ‘On the Air,’ for nearly 40 years. On May 17, Di Giampaolo planned to broadcast an interview with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, but executives at the station Éxitos 93.1 FM in the western city of Maracay nixed the plan […]
"Press workers in Argentina protested on Friday [June 7] in defense of freedom of expression and against the censorship and adjustment policies of President Javier Milei's government on the occasion of Journalist's Day in the country. During the protest, more than 2,000 press workers signed a statement in the face of ‘serious affectation to freedom […]
"In an interview with [Spanish news agency] EFE, Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez accused the government of [President] Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of exercising a 'terrible censorship that suffocates' her new book 'The Secret History: AMLO and the Sinaloa Cartel,' in social networks and media. [...] 'The president of the republic has a monopoly on communication, […]
“The multi-state news channel teleSUR, headquartered in Venezuela, denounced Monday [May 6] that its broadcasting on Argentina's Open Digital Television (TDA, by its Spanish acronym) was cancelled. 'The media censorship against teleSUR in Argentina represents a serious attack on the right to information, by limiting access to dissident voices, restricting the plurality of information, undermining […]
“Given the deep democratic closure that prevails in El Salvador, the digital environment has become an indispensable channel to exercise freedom of expression, freedom of the press and the defense of human rights. From Derechos Digitales we have documented on several occasions the situations of censorship, violations of the right of access to information, and […]