Amid rising violence in Brazil, convictions in journalists’ murders are cause for optimism
Justice delayed is justice denied, goes the legal maxim, and that has all too often been the case in Latin America. But the perseverance of lawyers and prosecutors in Brazil has resulted in a number of recent convictions in cases many thought had been buried or forgotten.
Inter-American Human Rights System, campaigns against defamation laws keep journalists from jail in Americas
When a prison guard told Ángel Santiesteban Prats that he would be released from jail on a scorching summer day in July, the Cuban independent writer and blogger decided to ignore him, brushing off the news as a cruel joke. By then, Santiesteban had already spent two years and five months in prison, half of…
Regional court orders Venezuela to reinstate RCTV on the air
New York, September 8, 2015–A recent ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordering Venezuela to reinstate the broadcasting license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, sets an important precedent for freedom of expression in the hemisphere, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. RCTV has been confined to cable and satellite since being…
Uruguay’s Edison Lanza has work cut out as new OAS special rapporteur on freedom of expression
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 the office in October, her successor–Edison…