Estrella de Panamá and El Siglo will not be able to conduct business transactions with U.S. citizens and companies starting July 13, 2017 following the recent decision of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department to not review their operating license, according to La Estrella de Panamá.
“Innocent.” These were the words Ecuadorian journalist Martín Pallares used to summarize the judge’s decision in a July 3 hearing for a suit filed against the journalist by former President Rafael Correa. The ex-leader, who was not present at the hearing, sued Pallares on June 5 in response to an article he wrote.
When Ecuador approved the Organic Law of Communication (LOC for its acronym in Spanish) in 2013, different organizations inside and outside the country expressed concern about the negative effects that the standard could have on freedom of expression.
Freedom of expression organizations in Panama are on alert after the Public Prosecutor's Office disclosed it is investigating whether money laundering occurred during the purchase of a media company.
Updated (June 26): The Colombian and Dutch governments have confirmed the release of two Dutch journalists being held by the National Liberation Army (ELN for its acronym in Spanish) in northeast Colombia.
"It is a region crossed by armed conflict; in that context, the possibility of temporary deprivation of liberty to persons unknown and from outside the community corresponds to a preventative attitude, of an exercise of protection and security, natural for any insurgent force," the statement said.
While Latin American community radios have received greater recognition in their countries since the mid-2000s, they remain limited and discriminated against in practice and by law.
João Miranda do Carmo, of Brazil, and Marcos Hernández Bautista, of Mexico, were among the 14 individuals whose names were added to the Journalists Memorial at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on June 5.
Civil society representatives from Uruguay called on their government to effectively implement the Law of Audiovisual Communication Services (SCA for its acronym in Spanish) and involve them in the development and implementation of the guidelines regulating it.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) documented the progress of jurisprudence on freedom of expression in the Americas in its recent report, “National Case Law on Freedom of Expression.” The report analyzes the time period from 2013 to 2016 in ten countries in the region.
Digital media sites are growing and many are becoming profitable — transforming, in every sense, the way journalism is made and consumed in Latin America. This was one of the most important findings of the study “Inflection Point,” that analyzed 100 digital media ventures from four Latin American countries, conducted by the organization SembraMedia with support from Omidyar Network.
Seven national and international journalists were assaulted and robbed of their belongings and work equipment allegedly by a local criminal gang in Guerrero, Mexico on May 13, several media outlets reported.