The closure of the magazine Vanguardia in Ecuador at the end of June not only represented the loss of one of the few critical voices in the country -- it was also a devastating blow for the morale of the profession.
With 108 out of 137 congressmen representing the ruling party, the new Organic Law on Communications was approved on Friday, June 14 by an overwhelming majority and without debating any of its provisions -- not even the ones that were added in the last moment.
Ecuador's National Assembly approved on Friday, June 14, the country's new Communications Law. The law, backed by President Rafael Correa, had 108 votes in favor, reported Spanish daily El Mundo.
The government of Ecuador will continue to push the Organization of American States, or OAS, to accept the reforms it proposed to the Inter American System on Human Rights and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, according to newspaper La Hora.
Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and Dominican Republic were the countries in the Americas with the most alerts on violations or possible threats against freedom of expression in 2012, according to Amnesty International's 2013 annual report on the state of human rights around the world.
The comments the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, makes on a weekly basis through his TV program "Enlace Ciudadano" against news outlets and journalists have recently raised concerns among organizations like Fundamedios and the Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States.
A series of public spats between a journalists' union in Ecuador and the country's government continues a week after the United States ambassador participated in an event with journalists on World Press Freedom Day, Friday, May 3.
With six countries listed without a free press, including three countries with some of the highest levels of impunity in the world for press crimes, Latin American freedom of expression is at its lowest levels since 1989.
For the "shameless lies" contained within the reports of the Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the non-profit Transparency International, Ecuador's minister of foreign affairs, Ricardo Patiño, announced that the federal government will take action and launch an "offensive strategy" against these entities, Fundamedios reported.
With three bullets gunmen ended the life of an Ecuadorian journalist in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Thursday evening, April 11, reported the EFE news agency. Fausto Guido Valdiviezo Moscoso, 52 years old, was in a vehicle when witnesses reported that a group of hooded men shot him, added the agency.
The government of Ecuador announced that it will file a new lawsuit against newspaper La Hora for having published a series of photographs that, it claims, incites to hatred, reported newspaper El Universo. The National Secretariat of Communication, Secom, plans to file the lawsuit between today and tomorrow, the newspaper added.
The criminal chamber of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador has declared the journalist Freddy Aponte innocent. Aponte had been facing five years in prison for "fraudulent insolvency" -- not being able to pay a fine -- said the newspaper La Hora.