Argentine President Cristina Kirchner proposed an ethics law for journalists during a speech at the energy company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF in Spanish), claiming that the media were "mounting a campaign to tarnish the image" of the recently nationalized business. Kirchner cited recent articles published in the newspaper Clarín for her argument, reported HidrocarburosBolivia.com.
The Chilean government denied a passport to a journalist for the second time because of "opinion crimes" committed 61 years ago, during the administration of President Gabriel González Videla, reported the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP in Spanish).
A Brazilian photojournalist was arrested and handcuffed by a police officer while filming an accident involving a military police car that left five injured in Goiânia, on Thursday, Aug. 9, reported the news portal G1. The cameraman works for the TV station TV Goiânia in the state of Goiás.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and several other international press organizations took the opportunity to express their mounting concern over the state of freedom of expression in Argentina and Ecuador during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which took place on July 12 in Santiago, Chile, reported the news website Martí on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
Gunmen sprayed the facade of the Mexican newspaper El Regional del Sur with bullets during the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 8, reported the newspaper El Universal. El Regional del Sur is published in the city of Cuernacava, near the Mexican capital.
In the state of Mato Grosso, in central-western Brazil, two Brazilian television stations were fined by the electoral court for broadcasting unfavorable reports about the administration of Mayor Juarez Costa of the city of Sinop, reported the newspaper Diário de Cuiabá on Thursday, Aug. 9.
Brazilian Minister Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court asked federal police to open an investigation into Wikipedia for its distorted and "ideological" posts, reported the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.
Venezuelan journalists from private news outlets were not allowed to cover a presidential event on Monday, Aug. 6, reported El Universal.
On the night of Friday, Aug. 3, a Colombian journalist was injured after an attack with explosives near the community radio station where she worked in Saravena, a town in Arauca, on the Venezuelan border, reported the news agency EFE, and the newspaper El Tiempo. According to Caracol radio, those responsible for the attack are allegedly members of the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish), and the attack had targeted police.
A group of exiled Cuban activists in the United States is planning a fireworks display off Cuba's coast to demand Internet access and freedom of expression on the island on Saturday, Aug. 11, according to the EFE news agency.
Troubled by the introduction of bills that would create information crimes in Peru, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) and several other international organizations penned an open letter to the Peruvian Congress regarding the right to freedom of information, reported the newspaper Perú21 on Tuesday, Aug. 7.
Officials of the Venezuelan National Guard seized the camera and deleted the work of a photographer who was covering violence in a park in the city of Barinas, in southeastern Venezuela, reported the National Union of Journalists on Friday, August 3.