One year after Brazil's Access to Information law took effect, fewer than half of the public agencies respect the law and the Executive branch receives the most information requests--and complaints--from journalists.
For the "shameless lies" contained within the reports of the Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the non-profit Transparency International, Ecuador's minister of foreign affairs, Ricardo Patiño, announced that the federal government will take action and launch an "offensive strategy" against these entities, Fundamedios reported.
The government of Ecuador announced that it will file a new lawsuit against newspaper La Hora for having published a series of photographs that, it claims, incites to hatred, reported newspaper El Universo. The National Secretariat of Communication, Secom, plans to file the lawsuit between today and tomorrow, the newspaper added.
After approving a right of reply law in March 2012, the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) of the Brazilian Senate will debate the issue this Thursday, March 27, said the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI).
The criminal chamber of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador has declared the journalist Freddy Aponte innocent. Aponte had been facing five years in prison for "fraudulent insolvency" -- not being able to pay a fine -- said the newspaper La Hora.
Attempting to safeguard the public image of Brazilian federal deputies, the Chamber of Deputies’ attorney general, Cláudio Cajado, proposed a plan to Google that would streamline the process to remove online content deemed offensive
Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and former president Álvaro Uribe were unable to reach an agreement in the lawsuit for libel and defamation that Duque filed against Uribe, reported Caracol Radio.
Mexican journalist Ana Lilia Pérez was sued for moral damages by federal congressman Juan Bueno Torio, according to news agency CIMAC.
Former Haitian President René Préval testified privately on Thursday, March 7, as part of an effort to re-open a criminal investigation into the killing of muckraking journalist Jean Dominique, reported the Associated Press.
The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
In Brazil defamation currently carries a minimum sentence of only three months, but that could change to two years if a penal code reform project currently being discussed in the Senate is approved.
The presidents of three newspapers in the Dominican Republic have asked for the decriminalization of defamation, in the Law on Expression and Diffusion of Thought and in the Penal Code, on the grounds on unconstitutionality, reported the newspaper El Día.