"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 […]
“The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, filed on July 2, 2024, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in case 12,686, with regard to Paraguay. This case concerns violations of the legality principle and of Aldo Zuccolillo Moscarda's rights to freedom of expression and to judicial guarantees. In 1998, Paraguayan politician […]
“To mark the two years of the unjust imprisonment of journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder and president of the now-defunct newspaper elPeriódico, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) renews its call to Guatemalan judicial authorities to end their persecution against him and order his immediate release. Roberto Rock, IAPA president and director of the Mexican […]
"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 […]
“The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (RELE, for its acronym in Spanish) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said that 'considerations were reiterated regarding the concentration of media, its implications for freedom of expression and the right to an informed society,' during its visit to Chile between March 18 […]
“The use of internet shutdowns by authoritarian regimes has emerged globally as a serious threat to freedom of expression. While commonly seen as rare in Latin America, a closer look reveals a different reality. Organisations and experts are increasingly noting various nuances and contexts in methods to interfere with internet access that are important to understand in order to identify and […]
"The organization Article 19 denounced patterns of aggression and repressive and inhibitory strategies against freedom of expression by the Cuban government during the last six months. Its most recent report 'Freedom of expression in Cuba: Semiannual analysis' records and systematizes aggressions against independent journalists and human rights activists. It also studies restrictive regulatory frameworks and […]
"In the last few weeks, the Congress of the Republic [Peru] has been preparing two bills that would put at risk journalistic practice and the autonomy of the media. Bill No. 2862/2022 seeks to increase penalties for the crimes of slander and defamation, and thus curb -as detailed in its explanatory memorandum- 'the malpractice carried […]
"On Feb. 17, Forbidden Stories and a media conglomerate, including OCCRP [Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project], published a series of investigative reports exposing the abuses and illegalities of the Spanish company ELIMINALIA. The company's services focus on aiding politicians and journalists to remove or de-index from any digital platform, web host or search engine, […]
"Begrudgingly tolerated a few years ago, Cuban reporters are now regularly detained, can have their phones and laptops seized, and their internet cut. Independent journalism in Cuba – usually supported by foreign funding – has blossomed since 2018, the year in which the state punctured its monopoly on information by unleashing relatively uncensored mobile internet. […]
"Cuba published a new version of its bill of Law of Social Communication that will continue to subordinate freedom of the press to socialist ideology. The new version 'shows the debates that have taken place between the most reactionary sector and the reformists' within the Cuban government, said Eloy Viera Cañive, a Cuban lawyer and […]