Reporters Without Borders condemns the physical attacks on journalists that have occurred in the course of demonstrations in several provinces since the start of December by police officers demanding more pay. “We urge the demonstrators and the police to respect the work of journalists, who have often been the targets of reprisals in connection with their coverage of the protests,” Reporters Without Borders said. We also call on the authorities to ensure that journalists are...

A homemade bomb badly damaged journalist Edvan Ríos Chanca’s home in Huancayo, in the central region of Junín, at dawn yesterday, shaking but not injuring its four inhabitants, one of them a child, according to regional newspapers and the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), which defends freedom of expression and information. “We condemn this attack and demand a full investigation into its origin and perpetrators,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Some...

Reporters Without Borders is dismayed at the release on bail of Fermín Marcelino Calderon (photo), one of those charged over the 2011 abduction and murder of the journalist , also known as “Gajo”. He was bailed on the orders of Judge Haydeliza Henriquez in the eastern city of San Pedro de Macorís on 29 November. The prosecution has said it will appeal against the decision. “In view of the seriousness of the charges against Fermin Marcelino Calderon in the...

The Colombian journalist Deisy Rodriguez Lagos and the Italian documentary maker Bruno Federico (photo) had a narrow escape when a gunman opened fire as they were covering an operation to expel peasants two days ago in Pitalito in the Chimichagua district of the northern department of Cesar. “In South America, landowners and their henchmen frequently behave as predators of freedom of information,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We call on the authorities to get to the...

Reporters Without Borders calls for a thorough investigation into yesterday’s attempted murder of TV journalist Diego Gómez Valverde in the eastern city of Cali, in which Gómez reportedly sustained five gunshot injuries. “We hope that Gómez recovers quickly,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Given that nothing was taken from the victim and the possibility that he was ‘warned’ before this shooting, acording to a few of his colleagues,...

Reporters Without Borders calls for justice for journalists who have been persecuted or killed and an overhaul of the entire Honduran media after the parliamentary elections that are due to be held on 24 November. Represented by an observer on the ground, Reporters Without Borders hopes that key issues that are important to the population, such as agrarian reform, environmental conflicts, a purge of the police and obviously human rights, will be the vehicles of a new pluralism and the...

Chile’s outgoing president has vetoed the Digital Television Act, a law that would have opened the way to modest progress in broadcasting in Chile despite being criticized for not going far enough to redistribute frequencies. Reporters Without Borders regards the arguments deployed by the president’s office in a 19 November paper defending the veto as a misuse of the concept of “pluralism” to defend the economic interests of a few at the expense of real pluralism. New...

Reporters Without Borders condemns police harassment and violence against journalists amid a wave of protests by students disputing the preliminary results from last weekend’s presidential election. “We call for an end to acts of intimidation and violence against journalists and we urge both the government and the opposition to respect their work,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities must guarantee the safety of journalists and must punish the police...

(Washington, D.C.) - ’s President Rafael Correa should end the use of criminal defamation laws to target his critics, Human Rights Watch said today. The prosecution and convictions of the opposition legislator José Cléver Jiménez Cabrera and two union members for slandering the president violates their right to freedom of expression under international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said. “President Correa has long made it clear that he’s willing...

Mario Echevarría Driggs, David Águila Montero and William Cacer Díaz, arrested in Havana last week, were freed on 14 October 2013. Two correspondents for the Hablemos Press news center, Denis Noa Martinez and Pablo Morales Marchán, were arrested last Sunday. They were freed at the same time. “Reporters Without Borders is relieved that all five journalists have been released. Hopefully, news providers will be able to continue their work without fear of...