The six Ecuadorian journalists who participated in the global investigation known as the Panama Papers have been the subject of a “campaign of genuine harassment,” as denounced by the nonprofit organization Fundamedios.
The conflict that the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has with the majority of media in his country is no secret. Since approving the Organic Law of Communication (LOC by its initials in Spanish) in 2013, different national and international organizations have denounced its restrictions on freedom of speech and press freedoms in the country.
The government of Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra canceled the ads that usually run in local newspaper El Deber after the latter published in its website a video that shows the city's mayor Percy Fernández Áñez touching the leg of a journalist sitting next to him, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said last week.
The Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo published a correction to a cartoon by journalist Xavier Bonilla “Bonil” on Feb. 5, ordered by the country’s Superintendent of Information and Communication due to what they considered a violation of the country's controversial Organic Law on Communications.
A Mexican journalist accused the government of the state of Chiapas of trying to intimidate her news team through legal actions against a family member.
Mexican journalist Sofía Valdivia reported that she is being investigated by the country's Office of the General Prosecutor (PGR in Spanish) for posting on her Twitter account about the possible return of a criminal group in Oaxaca, news site Animal Político reported.
Ecuador’s National Secretariat for Communications (SECOM) has placed the freedom of expression organization Fundamedios under its administrative control. The organization believes this action seeks to harass them and fears it could lead to its dissolution.
The role of journalists as guardians of democracy faces more dangers each and every day due to an increase in organized crime and government repression and corruption in the Western Hemisphere, said Carlos Lauría, the Senior Americas Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in front of the US House of Representatives Thursday.
The Civic Association for Communication and Information for Women (CIMAC in Spanish) released a report yesterday on violence against female journalists in Mexico. The document details the types of offenders, forms of violence, age and marital status of almost 100 journalists who have been attacked or intimidated in the last decade.
In an article posted on July 30, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) stated its "concern" over the "abrupt economic measures against the country's journalists and news-media companies" implemented by the Venezuelan government.