The Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Catalina Botero, says that Latin America still faces major challenges to freedom of expression, despite advancements on political fronts. Botero reiterated the gravity of killings, attacks, threats, disappearances, and imprisonment of journalists, EFE reports.
Journalists and civil society representatives convened for the “Second Platform for Action to Strengthen Freedom of Expression in Central America,” where they identified the principal challenges for exercising this right and listed initiatives to promote it throughout the region.
Human rights experts from the United Nations urged the government to take urgent measures to protect journalists in Honduras, where seven media workers have been assassinated since March 1, the AFP and EFE news agencies report.
A draft law that establishes internet rights and responsibilities for citizens, business, and the government has received hundreds of responses since the online comment period began last month. Responding to critics, the Justice Ministry has eliminated language that some claimed would effectively force web site hosts—including media outlets—to remove content immediately after private, non-judicial complaints.
Police authorities say they'll investigate charges that members of an anti-riot squad in Cali (western Colombia), beat reporters and photographers who were covering a Labor Day protest, RCN radio reports.
Public Security Minister Óscar Alvarez rejected the claims made by Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations that point to the existence of an organized group that seeks to silence the Honduran press, Spain's El Mundo reports, with information from news agencies.
Journalists and organizations throughout the world marked World Press Freedom Day Monday (May 3). UNESCO's conference in Australia about defending access to information ended with auma declaration asking countries to enact laws "guaranteeing the right to information in accordance with the internationally-recognized principle of maximum disclosure." See more information about the day's events.
Óscar Rubio Cárdenas, 75, was killed in his apartment in Bogotá, apparently by two people who attempted to rob him, EFE reports.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an association of women who lost their children during the dictatorship (1976-1983), held a mock trial for journalists and media that they believe were complicit with the military regime, the Buenos Aires Herald and Associated Press report.
Filmmaker Elena Varela, who has documented the lives of indigenous Mapuches for much of her career, was acquitted by three judges who found insufficient evidence to convict her of participating in two violent assaults, La Nación reports.
Filmmaker Elena Varela, who has documented the lives of indigenous Mapuches for much of her career, was acquitted by three judges who found insufficient evidence to convict her of participating in two violent assaults, La Nación reports.
President Chávez has opened a Twitter account and published his first messages on the popular social network, following an earlier promise to use the Internet as his "trench" from which to provide information and respond to his enemies. See these stories.