As US-Cuba relations thaw, what's next for the island's independent press?
March 16, 2016 3:57 PM ET
"Our hope is that President Obama will meet journalists working for the alternative media, not just to cover his visit, but to start a dialogue," said Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, director of Periodismo de Barrio (Neighborhood Journalism) a website focusing on climate change and the impact of natural disasters on...
Why the governor of Veracruz should resign
February 12, 2016 4:46 PM ET
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published, in Spanish, on Univision.com. The state of Veracruz has become one of the world's most lethal regions for the press. According to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, when you include the case of Anabel Flores Salazar, whose body was found...
The murder of Mexican photographer Espinosa has touched a nerve
August 18, 2015 3:56 PM ET
The July 31 murder of Mexican photographer Rubén Espinosa hit the press freedom community really hard. Espinosa, who was found in an apartment with four female victims--all of them shot in the head--had fled the state of Veracruz in June and sought refuge in Mexico City, where he thought...
In Cuba, case for harassing press has collapsed
December 22, 2014 12:06 PM ET
Throughout the years, the Cuban government has justified the imprisonment of independent journalists on charges that they were acting against the State's sovereignty at the behest of the United States. During the so-called Black Spring in March 2003, when the government then led by President Fidel Castro launched a...
Uruguay's Edison Lanza has work cut out as new OAS special rapporteur on freedom of expression
July 25, 2014 10:17 AM ET
The office of the special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was created in 1997 to advance freedom of expression in the hemisphere, and over that period has contributed significantly to the protection and expansion of press freedom. So when Catalina Botero leaves...
Rousseff to CPJ: 'Brazil committed to fighting impunity'
May 7, 2014 3:57 PM ET
"The federal government is fully committed to continue fighting against impunity in cases of killed journalists," Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told a CPJ delegation during a meeting on Tuesday in Brasilia, the country's political capital. Accepting that deadly violence against the media is a detriment to freedom of the...
Remembering Mike O'Connor
December 30, 2013 4:02 PM ET
It is a sad end to 2013 for the global press freedom community. With the sudden death of CPJ Mexico Representative Mike O'Connor, 67, on Sunday, Mexican journalists have lost one of their most formidable advocates. Mike will be remembered as someone who was on the forefront of the...
Inter-American court ruling seen as a serious setback
November 19, 2013 2:51 PM ET
For more than a decade, courts and legislatures throughout Latin America have found that civil remedies provide adequate redress in cases of libel and slander. Over this period, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights -- an autonomous judicial institution, which is part of the human rights protection system of the...
Uruguayan broadcast bill could be regional model
October 9, 2013 3:35 PM ET
"Governments pass, but laws stay," said Uruguayan President José Mujica. During a meeting with CPJ, and representatives from Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders at the president's executive office in Montevideo, the political capital, the former member of the leftist guerrilla group Tupamaros reflected on the upcoming congressional...
CPJ testifies on challenges to democracy in the Americas
September 11, 2013 12:52 PM ET
Carlos Lauría's testimony starts at 1:10 in the video. Carlos Lauría, CPJ's Americas senior program coordinator, provided testimony before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of US House of Representatives on Tuesday. Lauría emphasized that violence and government harassment are the main emerging trends that illustrate the major challenges...