Several Caribbean nations have pledged to reform their criminal defamation laws but must continue to work to fully repeal them, according to a new report published by the International Press Institute (IPI).
The Argentine Audiovisual Communication Services Law, also known as the Media Law, set to take effect Dec. 7, has caught the attention of press freedom organizations across the world.
The 68th Inter American Press Association (IAPA) General Assembly will conclude Tuesday, Oct. 16, with debates focused on the future of freedom of expression and journalism in the Americas. Since Friday, Oct. 12, reporters, media owners and critics have been meeting in São Paulo, Brazil to discuss crimes against the press, the sustainability of journalism, digital journalism and copyright rules.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) of Venezuela recorded 19 incidents that affected press freedom in the country during the presidential elections that took place on Sunday, Oct. 7, the group said in a report released on Oct. 11. According to IPYS Venezuela, the events happened between the week before the elections and the days after the results were announced.
The Global Editors Network (GEN) released a statement on its website calling attention to the Argentine government's attacks against the press in what it described as a "press freedom crisis." GEN warned that the government's intentions to break up Grupo Clarín and seize its assets on Dec. 7 is a threat to press freedom in Latin America.
"Maras" and criminal gangs exerted the greatest censorship against the Guatemalan press between July and September 2012, according to a trimester report from the Journalists Observatory of the Center of Informative Reports on Guatemala (CERIGUA in Spanish).
A Peruvian journalist working in the area of human rights received two phone calls with death threats and an envelope with four bullets on Oct. 4, according to the Press and Society Institute, or IPYS. The relatives of Rosario Huayanca Zapata, who works for the Human Rights Commission of Ica (in the south-central region of the country), received the phone calls, while the envelope was found at her work.
Prompted by the killing of Luis Henrique Georges, owner of the newspaper Jornal da Praça, in the city of Ponta Porã, Mato Grosso do Sul, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) warned about the "elevated level of insecurity facing the practice of journalism in certain regions of the country," reported the news agency EFE.
A top government official in Trinidad and Tobago has ordered police to withhold crime statistics from the public and media, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday, Oct. 10.
Organization of American States (OAS) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Catalina Botero came out against proposed reforms that would limit the power and function of the Inter-American Human Rights System and would affect the defense of freedom of expression in the region, according to the Guatemalan organization Cerigua.
Police detained a photographer for an hour and a half in Colombia on Sunday, Oct. 7, reported the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal. While in custody, the photographer was forced to erase pictures he took while covering a bomb explosion in a city park in Bucaramanga, Santander.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the Colombian government was responsible for the attacks suffered by cameraman Luis Gonzalo "Richard" Vélez Restrepo and the threats he received that prompted him and his family to seek asylum, reported the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish) on its website.