On Thursday, Sept. 22, two Peruvian journalists accused of defamation were sentenced to two years in prison, although the sentences were suspended, reported the Press and Society Institute.
President of the Block of Venezuelan Press, an association of Venezuelan newspaper editors, believes covering the 2012 presidential election will be especially difficult for an independent press already under attack.
Two Mexicans accused of terrorism and sabotage for posting false rumors over Facebook and Twitter were freed Sept. 21 after spending a month in jail, reported Reuters.
Raúl Flores Castillo, director of the Chilean digital magazine Dilemas, claimed he was detained by police for covering a student protest in the capital of Santiago on Sept. 8, the magazine reported.
A Peruvian lawyer issued a writ of habeas corpus to free the journalist Paul Garay Ramírez. Garay was sentenced to three years in prison for alleged defamation, reported the newspaper Expreso.
Police agents in Sinaloa, Mexico captured a suspect in the 2009 killing of journalist José Luis Romero, of the radio program Línea Directa, according to the newspaper Noroeste.
A judge in the Dominican Republic sentenced three suspects in the killing of journalist José Silvestre to be held in preventative detention for three months, reported the Dominican newspaper Listín Diario.
Yuri Galván Quesada, journalist for the newspaper Provencia in Michoacán, claims to have been illegally arrested while investigating corruption in a health services center in Morelia, the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán.
A Honduran judge issued arrest warrants for a journalist and 16 environmental leaders for allegedly opposing a forest management plan in the town of El Porvenir, in central Honduras.
Nicaraguan police shot at the truck of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper La Prensa in Managua, Eduardo Enríquez, and then detained him for 12 hours for obstructing a motorcade with the president of the Supreme Electoral Council and "jeopardizing the lives of officials," according to La Prensa.
A Peruvian appeals court has reduced the prison sentence for journalist Paul Garay from three years to 18 months, but has confirmed that he will remain in jail, reported Crónica Viva.
A potential opposition presidential candidate and former state governor in Venezuela, Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, was convicted July 13 of “spreading false information” in a March 2010 interview with Globovisión, The Press and Society Institute and The Associated Press report.