Ecuador

Restrictive legal measures that limit freedom of expression and the stigmatizing and intimidating discourse against media outlets and journalists from the highest levels of power are some of the issues that cause most concern to international organizations that defend freedom of expression.

Nathaly Toledo, a journalist and newscaster for TV station Teleamazonas, reported via Twitter that she received death threats after presenting a report on drugs and weapons found in a school in the coastal city of Guayaquil and their links to gangs.

Protesters brandishing Ecuadoran flags and pictures of President Rafael Correa yelled slogans like “Down the with corrupt press!” and “Long live President Correa!” as the newspaper El Universo received an honorary citation at the Cabot prize awards ceremony.

The International Press Institute (IPI) today released a final report on its May 2012 press freedom mission to Ecuador, stating that the nation’s private media outlets are being targeted by the government of President Rafael Correa.

A radio ‘cadena’ interrupted for approximately six and a half minutes news programs on the radio stations with the highest ratings, in an attempt to discredit the work of Fundamedios and assert that certain media outlets do not comply with labor laws.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has ratified a request calling on “El Comercio” to hand over the names of readers who have posted critical comments on its webpage.

Since July of this year, the terms “30S”, “30-S” and “Prohibido olvidar” (Don’t Forget) have become the exclusive property of the government, after the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property (IEPI) accepted the registration of these phrases, in effect until May 2022.

A judge for Children and Adolescents, sentenced the newspaper El Universo‘s director, Carlos Pérez Barriga, with a US$500 fine for publishing a photograph of the underage children of Assembly members Abdalá Bucaram Pulley and Gabriela Pazmiño in the company of President Rafael Correa.

An Electoral Tribunal has sanctioned Vistazo magazine with an 80 thousand dollar fine because it found the editorial entitled “Un NO Rotundo” (An Emphatic NO) – about questions posed in the Popular Consultation and Referendum of 7 May 2011 – to be “electoral propaganda”.

On Sunday 23 September 2012, journalist Alejandro Escudero, of the weekly paper Independiente of the city of Nueva Loja, Amazon province in Sucumbíos, was threatened by two unidentified persons who, much to his surprise, burst into the paper’s office.

To determine the levels of compliance among State institutions covered by the Transparency and Access to Public Information Law, Fundamedios presented 40 requests for access to information addressed to the Presidency, Vice-presidency and the various Ministries and State Secretariats.

A court in Loja sentenced journalist Freddy Aponte to five years in prison after ratifying a first instance conviction that found him guilty of bankruptcy fraud in a lawsuit initiated by the former mayor of Loja, Bolívar Castillo. The journalist failed to pay a fine in a previous trial for moral damage.

Journalist Jeanette Hinostroza confirmed publicly that she has received threats against her security and physical safety and announced that she would take a temporary leave from the Teleamazonas news and interview program “La Mañana de 24 Horas”, as a preventive measure.

After the government of Rafael Correa announced it would grant political asylum to Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, the issue of freedom of expression in Ecuador has been the focus of many news pieces in the media all over the world.

Journalist Antonio Medrano, the El Universo correspondent in the city of Babahoyo, received threatening phone calls from unidentified persons, warning him that he could be killed.

On 30 August 2012, Emilio Palacio, former opinion editor of the newspaper El Universo, announced that the government of the United States has granted him political asylum after the paper’s directors were sentenced to three years in prison and the payment of 40 million dollars to Rafael Correa as reparations.