El Universo

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CPJ

Free expression in Americas goes beyond left or right

On Sunday the general assembly of the Organization of American States will convene in Bolivia in the verdant, highland valley city of Cochabamba. The 35 member states (every nation in the region except Cuba) are expected to vote on a measure that, if passed, could curtail free expression and press throughout the hemisphere and put…

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Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patiño said 'ignorance' was behind international criticism of press freedom conditions in Ecuador. (AP/Dolores Ochoa)

Nations urge Ecuador to guarantee freedom of expression

Stressing concerns of human rights groups about the deterioration of press conditions under the administration of President Rafael Correa, 17 members of the United Nations submitted recommendations to Ecuador on freedom of expression issues before the U.N. Human Rights Council this week. While Ecuador tried to pass off the criticism as resulting from ignorance, the…

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President Correa tells the nation he is pardoning the executives and journalists he sued for libel. (AFP/Rodrigo Buendia)

Despite pardon, Correa does lasting damage to press

New York, February 27, 2012–Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa announced today that he would pardon several news managers and journalists he had sued for libel, but his actions in the cases have done grave damage to free expression in his country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Correa had won separate libel complaints against executives of…

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El Universo staff members carry a mock coffin to protest the court ruling that upheld the verdict against their colleagues. (AFP/Camilo Pareja)

In Ecuador, a crushed and silenced democracy

The sentence against Ecuadoran newspaper El Universo, its opinion editor, Emilio Palacio Urrutia, and its three top executives, Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, and Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti, for supposed offenses against Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa in Palacio’s article “NO to lies,” is a worn-out manifestation of the perverse concept of public…

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Police and Correa supporters outside court. (AP/Dolores Ochoa)

El Universo verdict bad precedent for free press in Americas

New York, February 16, 2012–Today’s decision by Ecuador’s highest court to uphold the criminal libel conviction brought by President Rafael Correa against El Universo represents a serious blow to freedom of expression and a setback for democracy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. 

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El Universo verdict devastating to Ecuador’s democracy

New York, February 16, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that Ecuador’s highest court upheld today a libel conviction brought by President Rafael Correa against the Guayaquil-based daily El Universo. 

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The president's defamation case could severely damage free expression in Ecuador. (Reuters/Guillermo Granja)

In Ecuador, defamation case could set dangerous precedent

A controversial 2011 defamation verdict against the leading Ecuadoran daily El Universo, which became a symbol of vastly deteriorating press conditions under President Rafael Correa, appears headed to a final determination. The nation’s highest court is due to hear the newspaper’s appeal, although the hearing date itself is still subject to intense debate. The ramifications…

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Ecuadoran appeals court upholds libel conviction

New York, September 20, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by an Ecuadoran appeals court ruling today upholding a criminal libel conviction against four El Universo newspaper managers in a case brought by President Rafael Correa. 

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Lauría in Ecuador. (Fundamedios)

In Ecuador, CPJ highlights press freedom decline

The turning point in President Rafael Correa’s aggressive campaign against the private media, Ecuadoran journalists say, came in July with the criminal defamation convictions of four managers of the Guayaquil-based daily El Universo. Bad went to worse when the paper’s former opinion editor and three of its executives were sentenced to jail and fined, along…

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President Correa won his defamation suit but is appealing for more damages. (AP/Dolores Ochoa)

Ecuadoran editor and executives sentenced to prison

New York, July 21, 2011–An editor and three executives from the Ecuadoran news daily El Universo were sentenced to three years in prison and $40 million in fines on Wednesday for defaming President Rafael Correa, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentence today and called on Ecuadoran authorities to…

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