Costa Rica / Americas

:New York, May 21, 2001 — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights will convene in San José, Costa Rica tomorrow to discuss suspending a Costa Rican court ruling that found a local journalist guilty of criminal defamation. On November 12, 1999, the Penal Court of the First Judicial Circuit in San José convicted Mauricio Herrera…

EVEN AS COSTA RICAN JOURNALISTS BATTLED A FLURRY of defamation lawsuits, a proposed bill that would have greatly enhanced press freedom in the country failed to win legislative approval. On February 15, the Legislative Assembly’s judiciary committee rejected a bill, drafted by several leading journalists and endorsed by President Miguel Angel Rodríguez, that would have…

Populism meets the press as Venezuela’s brash new president takes to the airwaves.

By Marylene SmeetsGovernments in several Latin American countries took steps to bring their media laws up to international standards. But as the Latin American press continued to expose wrongdoing, its very strength rendered it vulnerable to a new kind of harassment: defamation campaigns.

Africa For the third consecutive year, Ethiopia held more journalists in jail–31 at year’s end–than any other country in Africa. Most were detained without charges.