Committee to Protect Journalists - Panama

CPJ urges OAS not to weaken human rights system

2013-03-18T16:40:37Z

Dear OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Ahead of the assembly of the Organization of American States on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to oppose any attempts to debilitate the regional human rights system. The failure of member states to preserve the autonomy and independence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its special rapporteur on freedom of expression would make citizens throughout the hemisphere more vulnerable to human rights violations and represent a blow to democracy in the Americas.

Panamanian daily's offices blockaded after critical reports

2012-08-10T15:28:54Z

About 30 trucks from Transcaribe Trading (TCT), a local construction company in Panama City, surrounded the offices of the daily La Prensa on August 2, 2012, from around 10 p.m. until 1:30 a.m., preventing the paper's trucks and employees from leaving the premises, according to news reports. TCT workers told local journalists that they were there because the daily's reports were jeopardizing the future of the company, and thus their jobs, according to news reports.

Critical Spanish journalists expelled from Panama

2011-03-02T18:46:59Z

New York, March 2, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Panamanian government to allow two Spanish journalists and human rights activists who were expelled to return to the country. The journalists were covering and documenting an indigenous demonstration on Saturday when they were detained by authorities and accused of "disrupting public order" according to an official statement.

In Panama, defamation conviction draws outcry

2010-10-07T19:31:10Z

New York, October 7, 2010--A Panamanian court of appeals has convicted two TV journalists of criminal defamation and banned them from professional work for one year, news reports said. While President Ricardo Martinelli said he would pardon the journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today that lawmakers should repeal all criminal penalties for defamation.

Veteran Panamanian journalist jailed on defamation charges

2010-06-30T15:50:23Z

New York, June 30, 2010—A 70-year-old Panamanian journalist arrested and jailed Saturday on a 2008 defamation conviction should be immediately released, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The charges against Carlos Núñez López, at left, stemmed from a 2005 story in the now-defunct weekly newspaper La Crónica about environmental damage in the province of Bocas del Toro, his lawyer, Luis Ferreyra, told CPJ. A landowner alleged his reputation had been damaged by the article, the local press said.

Attacks on the Press 2009: Americas Developments

2010-02-16T05:02:40Z

Panamanian journalist sentenced to two years in prison

2009-04-30T20:12:33Z

New York, April 30, 2009--A Panama City court has sentenced leading Panamanian journalist Jean Marcel Chéry to two years in prison on trespassing charges stemming from a years-long series of complaints filed by a Supreme Court justice. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Justice Winston Spadafora to end his politically motivated harassment.

Attacks on the Press in 2008: Americas Developments

2009-02-10T05:52:00Z

Judge orders seizure of weekly after story on alleged tax evasion

2008-09-09T02:07:00Z

New York, September 8, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the decision of a Panamanian civil court on Friday to order the seizure of assets belonging to a weekly newspaper, as well as portions of two staff members' salaries. The ruling came after the publication ran a story on alleged tax evasion by a local real estate tycoon.

Panama: Columnist barred from leaving the country

2008-07-28T04:00:00Z

New York, July 28, 2008--A Panamanian judge barred sports columnist Bienvenido Brown from leaving the country and ordered him to stand trial on criminal defamation charges filed in 2005.

Eleventh Criminal Court Judge Josefina Sclopis issued the ruling on Friday against Brown, a columnist with the daily La Estrella de Panamá, the newspaper reported. The judge's decision stemmed from a criminal defamation suit against the sports reporter filed by the director of the Panamanian Sports Institute, Ramón Cardoze, after Brown denounced alleged irregularities in his column. The Panamanian Sports Institute is the government body tasked with promoting sports in Panama.

Attacks on the Press 2007: Americas Analysis

2008-02-05T17:09:00Z

Preaching Without A Choir

By Carlos Lauría

At June's annual assembly of the organization of American states (OAS) in Panama, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged foreign ministers to send the group's secretary-general, José Miguel Insulza, to investigate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías' decision to pull the plug on the country's oldest private television station, RCTV.

Attacks on the Press 2007: Americas Snapshots

2008-02-05T16:58:00Z

Attacks & developments throughout the region

Attacks on the Press 2006: Americas Snapshots

2007-02-05T16:51:00Z

Attacks & developments throughout the region

CPJ alarmed by plan to double jail time for defamation

2006-06-23T16:00:00Z

New York, June 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a proposal sent to Panama’s President Martín Torrijos to stiffen penalties for defamation, including a doubling of prison terms.

A commission of lawyers and academics, which was set up by Torrijos to examine penal code reform, made the proposals in a draft bill last week, Jean Marcel Chéry, a reporter for the Panama City based daily La Prensa, told CPJ. If Torrijos and his cabinet endorse the draft, it will be put before the legislature in September. Among the amendments, Article 214 would drastically increase penalties and raise the maximum prison term for defamation to three years.

Attacks on the Press 2005: Panama

2006-02-16T16:17:30Z

PANAMA

Panama took steps to improve press freedom, lifting broad deterrents
against criticism of public officials and repealing laws that gave authorities vast censorship powers. The National Assembly approved a bill with wide-ranging reforms in May, and it was signed by President Martín Torrijos two months later.

Panamanian journalists said the changes were encouraging given the country's history of institutionalized harassment of the press. But they also noted that some of the changes were cosmetic, eliminating provisions that had already fallen into disuse. Criminal defamation statutes remain on the books, they said, and pose a serious, ongoing threat to journalists.