Americas
2011
Mexican court rules critical documentary can be shown
When a federal judge issued an order last week to suspend screenings of documentary that investigates incompetence in the Mexican judicial system, it looked like the film might be falling victim to the very system it criticizes. The film, “Presumed Guilty” (“Presunto Culpable” in Spanish), exposes flaws in the Mexican judicial system as it charts…
In El Salvador, 11 sentenced in filmmaker’s 2009 slaying
New York, March 10, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s sentencing of 11 defendants in the brutal 2009 slaying of Christian Poveda, left, a French photojournalist and filmmaker who had spent decades documenting gang violence in El Salvador. Twenty other suspects, accused of being accomplices, were acquitted.
Peruvian news daily attacked; editor threatened
New York, March 9, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack on the Peruvian news daily Voces, which was hit with homemade explosive devices on Saturday. The daily’s editor recently received threats following critical reporting on a national congressional candidate, he told CPJ.
Moments before arrest in Cuba
On March 18, 2003, I got up early as usual, connected my shortwave radio receiver, and tuned into a number of radio stations in the south of Florida in search of the day’s most important news. As always, the radio interference was brutal and made it hard to hear. Still, I had to make the…
Last Black Spring reporter freed; one still jailed in Cuba
New York, March 7, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Cuban independent journalist Pedro Argüelles Morán on Friday, and calls on Cuban authorities to eliminate all conditions on his freedom. Argüelles Morán, at left, was the last of 29 reporters arrested during a 2003 massive government crackdown on dissent to be allowed…
Supreme Court tells Argentina to avoid bias in allocating ads
New York, March 4, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists hails a ruling by Argentina’s Supreme Court that calls for the omission of discriminatory criteria and “reasonable balance” in the allocation of state advertising. The ruling stems from a 2006 injunction filed by Editorial Perfil, the country’s largest magazine publisher, claiming arbitrary distribution of official advertising.
After ‘trial by fire,’ Cuba’s Maseda back to journalism
Almost three weeks after being released from jail following eight years of inhumane treatment in Cuba’s infamous prison system, CPJ’s 2008 International Press Freedom award winner Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez said he is committed to going back to independent journalism. “That’s my will, and I have decided to do it here in Havana,” Maseda said in…
Critical Spanish journalists expelled from Panama
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…
Brazilian officials tell CPJ they see judicial censorship
Government officials in the administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff acknowledged that judicial censorship is inhibiting the work of the local press during meetings with CPJ on Thursday and Friday. At the same time, they said that due to the separation of powers under the Brazilian constitution, there is not much they can do to…