Americas

Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists believes the criminal investigation of prominent journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios is politically motivated and intended to restrict critical news coverage in Nicaragua. The case undermines your government’s oft-stated commitment to press freedom.

New York, October 14, 2008–Mexican editor and publisher Miguel Angel Villagómez Valle was executed hours after being kidnapped on Thursday in the state of Michoacán. His body was found on Friday in neighboring Guerrero state. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between Villagómez’s death and his work as a journalist.

We issued the following statement in response to the murder of Mexican reporter Miguel Angel Villagómez, editor of the newspaper La Noticia in the state of Michoacán, whose bullet-ridden body was found today in the neighboring state of Guerrero, according to press reports. “We mourn the death of our colleague Miguel Angel Villagómez and urge…

After Jehad Ali’s leg was shattered by assailants in Iraq, colleagues raised money, and surgeons in California offered help. Now, Ali has cleared another big hurdle: He’s gained permission to enter the United States. By Robert Mahoney

Unfounded government accusations have fueled a climate of fear, CPJ says in a letter to President Hugo Chávez Frías. … 

In response to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s decision to investigate prominent journalist Carlos Chamorro Barrios for alleged money laundering through the Center for Media Investigation, of which Chamorro is a board member, we issued the following statement: “We are concerned that the investigation into Carlos Chamorro Barrios, a harsh critic of Ortega’s administration, could be…

On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department announced it decided to issue visas to two Cuban journalists who had previously been denied reentry into the U.S. As a footnote to the transcript of spokesman Sean McCormack’s discussion about the case of Cuban journalists Ilsa Rodriguez Santana and her husband, Tomas Anael Granados Jimenez, which was reviewed…

Haiti’s best known press freedom activist, Guyler Delva, sent out a frantic call for help yesterday morning. At least 70 journalists and media workers in the northern city of Gonaïves are living in dire circumstances, Delva said in his e-mail. They need food, clothes, and shelter, as well as equipment, he specified. In short, “they…

October 2008News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, September 30, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the U.S. government to explain its decision not to renew visas of two New York-based, United Nations-accredited Cuban correspondents.