The Cuban government has said it will release 52 political prisoners, including opposition activists and journalists, The New York Times reported.
The investigation into the 1986 death of the publisher and editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Espectador, Guillermo Cano, will have no statute of limitations as the prosecution declared the killing, still unsolved, as a crime against humanity, reported El Espectador and El Colombiano.
Dissident Cuban journalist Guillermo Fariñas, on a hunger strike for more than four months to demand the release of political prisoners on the island, said he is aware his death is approaching and that brothers Fidel y Raúl Castro are responsible for his future death, reported the news agencies EFE and AFP.
The attorney general’s office decided to restructure the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists, which will now focus specifically on crimes against media workers who are attacked for their profession, El Universal and EFE report.
The official voice of Cuba's Communist party, the newspaper Granma, reported that Guillermo Fariñas is at risk of dying after nearly 130 days of a hunger strike. In an extensive interview, the chief of the intensive care unit of the hospital where Fariñas is staying said doctors have done just about all they can to save his life.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez upped his verbal attacks against opposition television station Globovisión, and reiterated that the government could confiscate the channel's stock in order to recuperate the money he alleges the station owners stole, reported El Universal and the Associated Press.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned an “aggressive" television ad campaign by the government of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa against independent news media.
In a letter to the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mexican President Felipe Calderón acknowledges a letter CPJ sent him a month ago about the increase in the number of cases of attacks and harassment by security forces against the press. The president said that the complaint was sent to the Attorney General's office, which will offer a response.
The government of Álvaro Colom has denounced a supposed plot to destabilize the country by various groups who are supported by "biased media" that "sell their pens to the highest bidder,” reported Siglo XXI and EFE.
The Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) published a statement denouncing a recent series of threats and intimidation against journalists. Violent reactions to investigative journalism has become a tradition, the group said.
Dissident Cuban journalist Guillermo Coco Fariñas, on a hunger strike for four months, is in critical condition and risks death, reported the website Cubanet.
Amnesty International reported that Cuba's repressive legal system has resulted in an atmosphere of fear for journalists, dissidents and activists, "putting them at risk of arbitrary arrest and harassment."