The National Journalists Union (CONAPE in Spanish) and the Journalists Syndicate of Panama on Tuesday called on the new owners of the newspaper publishing company Editora Panamá América (EPASA) to stop firing journalists, adding that the groups would continue to vigilantly monitor the situation.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) applauded the Jan. 18 legal reform that increased the statute of limitations for crimes against journalists in Colombia -- a change that is considered a step forward in the fight against impunity, reported Vanguardia and Terra.
An investigation by internal affairs of Costa Rica's police force into the police beating of journalists at television channels 6 and 7 could last between two and six months and potentially could lead to officers being fired, reported Notimex and DPA.
A judge in Mexico City ruled that Contralínea magazine be fined for publishing stories about contracts awarded by state-owned oil giant Pemex to private companies, stating the matter “is not of public interest,” SDP Noticias reports.
Residents of Posadas, capital of Misiones province (NE Argentina), demonstrated over the weekend in favor of freedom of expression, responding to last week’s closure of Channel 4. Ten military police officers went to the station Jan. 12 to enforce a court order to suspend its broadcasts. (See other stories here, in Spanish.)
Peruvian writer and journalist Mario Vargas Llosa, the 2010 Nobel Laureate in Literature, defended the importance of “free journalism” and stressed the role of the Latin American press in helping diminish the “horrors of the authoritarian past” and supporting the consolidation of democracy, AFP and El Nuevo Diario report.
Following the Jan. 12 explosion of a home-made bomb at the headquarters of Channel 9 in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, authorities now are investigating the origin of a letter threatening local media that was attributed to the armed group Paraguayan People's Army (EPP), reported the news agency EFE.
The government-run Cuban website Cubadebate denounced Google for closing its YouTube channel for a supposed copyright “infraction” in a video related to the trial of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.
A controversial bill that included up to four years of prison for those who “insult” the president or other elected officials was withdrawn by the president of Panama’s National Assembly, José Muñoz, EFE and Terra report.
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission on Jan. 11 condemned the harassment against community radio stations in Honduras by police and government officials, reported Univisión.
Journalist Carlos Torres, correspondent for Panamerican radio in the city of Sucre, in the south of Bolivia, received anonymous death threats via text message on his cell phone, reported the National Press Association (ANP).
In a Jan. 9 column, the ombudsman for the Brazilian daily Folha de S. Paulo said the paper’s case against the Falha de S. Paulo (São Paulo Failure) parody blog was more harmful than the blog itself.