A Bolivian journalist claimed bullets were fired at the door of his home in the southern city of Tarija on Oct. 11, reported the news agency ANF. Reporter Humberto Vacaflor reported the attack to the local police but the Special Force to Fight Crime asked him to bring the suspects to the station himself, the agency added.
An Ecuadorian journalist claimed she received death threats after presenting a series of reports on drug consumption and carrying guns in schools in the city of Guayaquil, reported the Associated Press.
Sympathizers of Ecuador's President Rafael Correa protested last week outside the María Moors Cabot Prizes ceremony in opposition to Columbia University's decision to give the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo an honorary citation for its defense of freedom of expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported.
A mayor in Honduras ordered the closure of a television channel and interfered with the distribution of the newspaper El Heraldo, reported the publication.
The Mexican Secretary of Government announced the 17 members that make up the Advisory Council for the Mechanism to Protect Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, reported the news agency Notimex.
The state government of Puebla filed a legal complaint against two journalists for "abusing freedom of expression" and the local press reported that the government is considering 17 more similar cases, according the news agency AFP.
The Bolivian Constitutional Court ruled that insult crimes against public officials are unconstitutional, violating citizens' right to freedom of expression, reported the website Prensa Libre. While the decision was dated Sept. 20, the announcement was not made until Tuesday, Oct. 23, by Court president Ruddy Flores, according to the website.
"Ecuador is in the midst of a press freedom crisis," International Press Institute (IPI) Deputy Director Anthony Mills said on Tuesday, Oct. 23, on the group's website. Mills' words were part of a press release announcing the final report of IPI's press freedom mission to the Andean country from May 7 to 11.
"Ecuador is in the midst of a press freedom crisis," International Press Institute (IPI) Deputy Director Anthony Mills said on Tuesday, Oct. 23, on the group's website. Mills' words were part of a press release announcing the final report of IPI's press freedom mission to the Andean country from May 7 to 11.
Fundamedios, a press organization, accused the Ecuadorian government of waging a smear campaign against it and private media in the Andean country, according to a statement on its website.
The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) denounced the "serious harassment" facing the media in a local community, the organization reported in a statement on its website on Tuesday, Oct. 16. According to FOPEA, this is the third time dispatchers for the newspaper El Debate have been attacked in Zárate, Buenos Aires, while delivering the publication.
The newspaper El Espectador de Colombia claimed the Attorney General of Colombia threatened to censor it, the publication said in an editorial published Wednesday, Oct. 16, reported the Associated Press (AP).