For the first time ever, Reporters Without Borders is publishing a list of profiles of “100 information heroes” for World Press Freedom Day (3 May).Through their courageous work or activism, these “100 heroes” help to promote the freedom enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom to “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” They put their ideals in the service of...

The so-called “Art School, President General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte”, named after the former far-right dictator who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, has been recruiting students ahead of its opening on March 28. The institute's site, in the town of Ancúd on Chile's remote Chiloé archipelago, 980 km south of Santiago, has been flanked by a number of conspicuous swastika-bearing posters advertising the school in recent days, local press have reported. The school's...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has reaffirmed that nobody, included individuals or countries, is entitled to overthrown a legitimate elected president through violence. Bachelet's comment came with respect to a wave of protests staged in Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro in recent weeks. Amidst reports of torture and violation of dissenters' human rights, Bachelet told Reuters, "We hope at all times for the respect of human rights and the Constitution, and hope that...

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...

At least five privately-owned local and community-based media organizations in three South American countries have been the targets of violent attacks in the past few weeks, depriving some of them of the means to broadcast. Reporters Without Borders is committed to helping them rebuild. The press freedom organization is seeking a detailed breakdown of the estimated damage they have suffered. In view of the extent of the losses, we are requesting assistance from the authorities in the...

Reporters Without Borders today submitted recommendations on Chile to the UN Human Rights Council (see document below), which is due to discuss the country during the 18th Universal Periodic Review in January and February 2014, shortly after the November presidential election. This process consists of a review of human rights achievements by UN member countries and, if necessary, a reminder of their responsibilities in this area. Reporters Without Borders calls on Chile to enact new laws to...

Reporters Without Borders urges the Chilean authorities to conduct a full and rapid investigation into yesterday’s burglary of the Santiago home of Mauricio Weibel, the correspondent of the German news agency DPA and Reporters Without Borders and president of the South American Press Correspondents Union. It was no ordinary burglary. Those who broke into Weibel’s home knew what they wanted and found it - Weibel’s laptop containing the files from his investigation into the...

At least five privately-owned local and community-based media organizations in three South American countries have been the targets of violent attacks in the past few weeks, depriving some of them of the means to broadcast. Reporters Without Borders is committed to helping them rebuild. The press freedom organization is seeking a detailed breakdown of the estimated damage they have suffered. In view of the extent of the losses, we are requesting assistance from the authorities in the...

The Chilean authorities should carry out a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the alleged unlawful use of force by police against members of the Mapuche indigenous community, Human Rights Watch said today. Officers found responsible for any unlawful use of force should be held to account and the injured civilians ensured an effective remedy. In two incidents on July 23, 2012, Caribineros police shot rubber bullets at members of the Ignacio Queipul community of Temucuicui, in...

A gay Chilean man who was beaten, stabbed, burned, and branded with a Swastika by a gang of neo-Nazis has died. Last month Daniel Zamudio, Zamudio was beaten with blunt objects before the Neo Nazi’s cut off part of his ear, carved swastikas into his abdomen and burned other parts of his body with cigarettes. Daniel Zamudio, 24 years. Zamudio’s mother told the newspaper that her son had gone to work at a store on Friday, but she did not know his whereabouts until he was found...