The president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, offered asylum to Ecuadoran journalist Carlos Pérez Barriga, one of the owners of the El Universo newspaper who, along with his two brothers, was just sentenced to three years in prison and $40 million in fines for defaming Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, according to the non-governmental organization Fundamedios. Martinelli made the announcement via his Twitter account on Thursday, Feb. 16.
A former Ecuadorean journalist facing prison and millions of dollars in fines is seeking asylum in the United States, reported the Associated Press on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
The United States announced at its Mexican embassy that it will donate $5 million to improve the safety of journalists in the country over the next four years, reported CNN Mexico on Jan. 11.
Cuba is one of the top two nations in the world with the worst record of forcing journalists into exile, said the Committee to Protect Journalists in a new report.
Dissident Cuban journalist Albert Santiago Du Bouchet, who had been in jail since 2009 for defamation, was freed by the Cuban authorities and exiled to Spain, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports. The government had already released the journalists who were among the 52 dissidents jailed during the 2003 “Black Spring” crackdown.
Two of the four Cuban dissident journalists that remain in prison have begun a hunger strike, Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports.
Dissident Cuban journalist Julio César Gálvez, who was freed in July 2010 by Cuba after seven years in prison, complained that the living conditions of his exile in Spain are not what he was promised.
The deadline for Cuba to release 52 political prisoners came and went Sunday night, Nov. 14, and as of Monday, 13 remained imprisoned, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Associated Press. The prisoners were arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents and independent journalists known as "Black Spring."
The 15th journalist freed from prison in Cuba went into exile in Spain on Wednesday, Sept. 8., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) has started a letter-writing campaign, asking the U.S. government to reverse its denial of a visa to Colombian television journalist Hollman Morris.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its 2010 survey of journalists living in exile.
While there are no accurate records on the number of migrant professionals, some reports and investigations by Venezuelan journalistic organizations estimate that between more than 400 and 1,300 reporters and communicators have emigrated from 2012 to 2018.