On Tuesday, Oct. 25, a group of journalists and organizations defending human rights appeared at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in Washington D.C., to present the problems that are affecting freedom of expression in Ecuador.
A columnist in Ecuador claimed censorship when his newspaper decided not to publish one of his pieces, saying they wanted to "avoid legal trouble," according to the organization Fundamedios.
Rose Mary Santana, journalist for several Dominican media outlets in Florida, became the president of the Dominican Journalists Council in Miami. She noted that some of the powers that be "see a journalist as an enemy when they practice investigative journalism," a statement from the same organization read.
A radio host in Peru claimed she was fired because of pressure from the mayor of her city, Cajabamba, in the north of the country, reported the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish).
Rapporteurs for freedom of expression from the United Nations and Organization of American States denounced the Mexican state's slow response to prosecute those that commit crimes against journalists. In the presentation of the report, "Freedom of Expression in Mexico," both organizations noted that violence against journalists in the country was the worst in the continent and the fifth overall in the world, reported EFE.
A reporting team from TV Globovisión was attacked by a group of employees from the Venezuelan city of Plaza on Wednesday, Oct. 19, as they were covering protests in the city of Guarenas, close to the capital city of Caracas, according to the Press and Society Institute.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) expressed concern about possible attacks by Chilean security forces against freedom of information on the eve of more student protests on Oct. 18.
About 200 neighbors and employees are standing watch night and day at the offices of a TV news station in the city of El Alto (on the outskirts of the Bolivian capital of La Paz) after a labor union threatened to physically seize the station, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo decided to postpone the four-month suspension against the private opposition television broadcaster CNS until Dec.1, instead of the original Oct. 3 date, according to Reporters Without Borders.
A Colombian court sentenced the newspaper Cundinamarca Democrática's founder and editor to 20 months in prison and a $5,500 fine for criminal libel, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Brazilian military hindered camera crews from filming in the Complexo do Alemão, a collection of 13 slums, or favelas, outside Rio de Janeiro, on Oct. 3, reported the website Consciência.net. The favelas have been occupied by the military since November 2010, after a series of attacks orchestrated by drug traffickers.
One year after the alleged attempted coup d’etat that shook Ecuador on Sept. 30, 2010 (known as 30S), Fundamedios published a report about attacks against the media and freedom of expression in the country. The report studies attacks before and after 30S, and shows a significant increase in the number of aggressions against journalists in the last year.