Annual Report 2008: Ecuador
Annual Report 2008: Ecuador
Prosecutors say newspaper editor’s murder not linked to his work
(RSF/IFEX) – Investigators are again working on the assumption that the motive for newspaper editor Carlos Navarrete’s murder was robbery. This was the initial theory but it was then ruled out because nothing was taken from his apartment in the western city of Guayaquil where his body was found on 24 February 2008 with multiple […]
Attacks on the Press in 2007: Ecuador
Attacks on the Press in 2007: Ecuador
Former editor of “El Telégrafo” tortured, murdered; robbery ruled out as motive
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF calls on the authorities to shed light on all aspects of the murder of newspaper editor Carlos Navarrete, who was found dead in his home in the southwestern city of Guayaquil on the night of 24 February 2008. The police originally thought robbery was the motive, but they have now ruled that […]
Freedom of the Press 2007: Ecuador
Freedom of the Press 2007: Ecuador
Radio journalist assaulted by skinheads following broadcasts on social diversity
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 16 September 2007, a group of women assaulted journalist Cora Cadena, the hostess of the programme “Transgresor Jatarishun” on Radio Luna, a station based in Quito, capital city of Ecuador. The assailants belong to the neo-Nazi group “cabezas rapadas” (“shaved heads”), which opposes social and ethnical diversity, issues regularly discussed on Cadena’s […]
President calls for more regulatory power over media
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 15 September 2007, during an address broadcast on radio, President Rafael Correa asked the new Constituent Assembly, which will begin its deliberations on 30 September, to further regulate the media so as to “stop them from being able to manipulate information”. The president made this request after declaring that the state should […]
Mining corporation employees threaten to burn down community radio station over coverage
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 10 July 2007, journalist Miguel Andrade, director of the community-based radio station Radio Intag, reported that for several months the station has been threatened by workers of the Ascendant Cooper Corporation mining company, because of its stand against mineral extraction. According to Andrade, during the first week of July they threatened to […]
President stops giving press conferences, calls for “strong” laws to deal with “corrupt and mendacious” press
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF deplores President Rafael Correa’s verbal attacks on the press and above all his decision not to give any more news conferences. The aggressivity of some of the news media towards him is undeniable, but he should try to defuse the tension between the press and the government, RSF said. “Yes, Ecuadorean society […]
Staff of Telesur news channel in Quito receive death threats, one of their vehicles sabotaged
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the death threats that have been being made, since May 2007, against the Quito-based staff of the pan-Latin American television news channel Telesur. This is not the first time the station, launched by the Venezuelan government, has been the target of hostility. RSF calls on the Ecuadorean authorities to act […]
“El Telégrafo” editor alleges government seeking control of newspaper in legal dispute over ownership
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 4 June 2007 IAPA press release: IAPA to keep watch on legal dispute over ownership of Ecuador’s oldest newspaper MIAMI, Florida (June 4, 2007) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said today that it will keep a close watch on the legal battle between private and state shareholders […]
Journalist faces possible prison sentence if convicted of “insult and calumny”
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF hopes the Quito Supreme Court will not find journalist Celio Rosario Chamba, of “El Correo de Machalá” newspaper, guilty of “insult and calumny” – punishable by imprisonment – for reporting that two veterinary doctors plagiarised a Cuban book in a thesis they wrote, especially as the veterinarians acknowledged having copied much of […]
President calls for imprisonment of “La Hora” director over critical editorial; charges against other media threatened
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is an 11 May 2007 IAPA press release: IAPA protests contempt charge by Ecuador president against local newspaper MIAMI, Florida (May 11, 2007) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today assailed a decision by Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to invoke an insult law in suing the editor of a local […]
Journalist sentenced to 60 days in prison for quoting comments critical of Pujilí mayor
(RSF/IFEX) – The 60-day prison sentence passed by the high court of the central province of Cotopaxi on Nelson Fueltala, correspondent of “La Gaceta” daily newspaper and of the radio station Radio Latacunga, for allegedly insulting the mayor of Pujilí, was disproportionate and is liable to encourage self-censorship, says RSF. “This ruling is both grossly […]
Presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa accuses journalists of “destroying the country”; RSF fears post-election media witch-hunt
(RSF/IFEX) – On the eve of the 26 November 2006 presidential run-off election between left-winger Rafael Correa and right-winger Alvaro Noboa, RSF has voiced concern that the threats and insults between the two candidates and their supporters that have marked the campaign could result in a witch-hunt against media outlets after the election. “We fear […]
WPFC urges President and other authorities to eliminate “insult” laws
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 12 June 2006 WPFC letter to President Alfredo Palacios: June 12, 2006 His Excellency Dr. Alfredo Palacios President of the Republic of Ecuador Presidential Palace Quito, Ecuador Your Excellency: On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee ( http://www.wpfc.org ) – an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from […]