Humberto Espinoza Maguiña, a Peruvian journalist and the former editor of the daily newspaper Prensa Regional, was sentenced twice for defamation, between Sep. 18 and 19, for denouncing alleged acts of government corruption by César Álvarez Aguilar, the regional president of Áncash, a northeastern region to the north of Lima. Maguiña received two years of prison, 120 days of community service and a fine of 5,000 soles (around $2,000), according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Ecuadorian government has proposed penalizing individuals who express opinions that could be considered defamatory on social media, freedom of expression non-profit Fundamedios reported.
Not all media outlets were accomplices to the disinformation campaign that prevailed in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, said Marcelo Castillo, president of the Journalists’ Association in Chile, in response to declarations made by President Sebastián Piñera to the foreign press, and previously, to Chilean newspaper La Tecera.
The Supreme Court in Colombia absolved journalist Luis Agustín González on Tuesday, who had been sentenced to prison for the crime of defamation.
Nearly two months after Costa Rica hosted the United Nations World Press Freedom Day, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla announced that she would sue anyone who “defames” her on social media. The president’s lawsuit against a hotel owner who posted remarks about her on his personal Facebook page outraged social media users, who say it calls the country’s reputation for freedom of expression into question.
Luiz Carlos Azenha, journalist for the Brazilian news network Rede Record and editor of the blog Viomundo, was ordered to pay nearly $15,000 in moral damages to TV Global's news and sports director, Ali Kamel, reported the website Consultor Jurídico.
The Jamaican government will submit new defamation legislation designed to protect journalists in their work, reported the news website Caribbean360. Information Minister Sandrea Falconer says the new law will remove the distinction between libel and slander, set up a single defamation cause, and abolish the criminal libel law, added the website.
Attempting to safeguard the public image of Brazilian federal deputies, the Chamber of Deputies’ attorney general, Cláudio Cajado, proposed a plan to Google that would streamline the process to remove online content deemed offensive
Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and former president Álvaro Uribe were unable to reach an agreement in the lawsuit for libel and defamation that Duque filed against Uribe, reported Caracol Radio.
The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
The presidents of three newspapers in the Dominican Republic have asked for the decriminalization of defamation, in the Law on Expression and Diffusion of Thought and in the Penal Code, on the grounds on unconstitutionality, reported the newspaper El Día.
The Brazilian media company UH News was sentenced to pay over $7,500 in moral damages, according to the court's website.