Government officials closed down a radio station and confiscated the equipment on Wednesday, Sep. 18, in the city of Guayaquil (southeast of the nation), informed news agency AFP. According to the Supervisor of Telecommunications, Supertel, the closure was due to the station operating illegally, reported AFP.
A total of 55 radio and television frequencies will be appropriated by the Ecuadorian government for failing to comply with the country's new communications law, said telecommunications minister Jaime Guerrero during a Sep. 20 press conference, news portal Infobae reported.
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.
A group of 60 persons -- among them journalists, politicians, writers and former Ecuadorian legislators -- have filed a new lawsuit before the Constitutional Court with the goal of revoking the country's controversial communications law, representing the second attempt to strike down the law through the courts.
After receiving criticism for putting an end to an initiative that sought to prevent drilling for oil in parts of the Yasuní National Park, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said on Twitter on Monday that he will propose a referendum to eliminate the country's print media in an alleged effort to save paper.
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.