The Bolivian government premiered the controversial 80-minute documentary, “The Cartel of Lies” (“El Cártel de la Mentira”), which generated profound rejection from journalist associations, activists and citizens of that South American country. The documentary was carried out by Juan Ramón Quintana, Bolivia’s minister of the presidency, and contains attacks against the country’s independent press.
In the last week, both Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui and the news site she directs, Aristegui Noticias, have denounced a series of events that, without knowing if they are linked, bring into question how secure the journalist and her team are in the country.
Adela Navarro Bello, co-director of Mexican weekly Zeta, which is based in the state of Baja California, denounced an alleged plan by state authorities to carry out a smear campaign against her.
A Bolivian judge shelved legal proceedings against journalist Humberto Vacaflor that were started after President Evo Morales filed a case against the journalist for criminal defamation.
At the request of the prosecution, a criminal court in Bogotá, Colombia agreed to terminate the investigation for injuria (defamation) against journalist Juan Esteban Mejía Upegui, according to newspaper El Espectador.
A Peruvian court annulled the conviction of Rafael Léon Rodríguez, a Peruvian journalist who was sentenced on May 3 for aggravated defamation, La República reported. The original sentence carried a one-year suspended prison term and a payment of 6,000 nuevo soles (about US $1,800) in civil damages.
In Honduras, investigative journalist Ariel Armando D’Vicente Jarquín, 48, was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of defamation for reporting on a former police chief, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Lawmakers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines passed the 2016 Cybercrime Act on Aug. 12 that provides up to two years in prison for online defamation.
The defamation conviction against a Peruvian journalist who was accused by former President Alan García Pérez has been overturned.
Peruvian journalist Rafael Léon was sentenced for the crime of defamation on May 3, according to newspaper La República. The sentence, which coincided with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, requires Léon to pay 6,000 Peruvian soles (about U.S. $1,800) in civil damages and to undergo a one-year probationary period in which he must comply with rules of conduct that include not moving homes and offering to sign a monthly record.
Peruvian journalist Fernando Valencia’s case will be presented before to the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), according to the newspaper La República.
A Chilean magazine is facing a lawsuit for defamation from the country’s top government official.