Ecuador

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said on 26 January 2014 it trusted that a lawsuit that Ecuador’s Constitutional Court admitted on Thursday 23 January arguing that the Organic Communication Law is unconstitutional will reopen the debate in the South American country.

Seven months after Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa flirted with the idea of offering asylum to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, intercepted communications and leaked emails are again making headlines in the Andean country.

The Ecuadorian administration should reverse its decision to shut down a local environmental and indigenous rights group, and revoke a recent presidential decree granting the government powers to oversee and dissolve independent organizations, undermining freedom of association and expression.

Journalist Janeth Hinostroza was verbally attacked by government supporters in New York City, where she was being presented an award by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

On October 30, 2013, Milagros Aguirre, a journalist and co-author of the book “A Hidden Tragedy” (“Una Tragedia Oculta”) reported that a private conversation between her and Alicia Cahuilla, a Waorani indigenous leader, was illegally recorded and aired on YouTube.

The Inter American Press Association expressed concern at the belittling of Ecuadorean and Argentine journalists by officials in their respective countries after they last week denounced abuses of press freedom to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Drilling will disrupt indigenous tribes and damage the environment, but Ecuador’s repressive policies toward the media and civil society are preventing an open debate.

On 9 October YouTube removed a documentary called “Harassment to Intag”, which examines the problems of contamination due to mining activities within the community of Intag, Ecuador.

On September 20, 2013 the Second Criminal Court in Esmeraldas accepted an action for slander that a former judge Ivonne Boada Ortiz presented against Diario la Verdad and four members of its board of directors. Boada also requested financial reparation of US$30 million. The criminal action was presented against Diario La Verdad, and against Mario […]

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.

Journalist Juan Carlos Calderón has received death threats and warnings after publishing an investigative report on alleged mismanagement of reinsurance plans for public enterprises, in a new digital magazine called Plan V.

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 journalist David Castillo who works for the newspaper La Hora in Huaquillas, was threatened by unknown individuals after publishing a story on the detention of a supposed criminal in the area.

On September 25, 2013, the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Guayas presented a formal accusation against five of the six people suspected of involvement in the April 2013 killing of journalist Fausto Valdiviezo.

A judge at the Provincial Justice Court of Pichincha issued a warrant to stop the circulation of the book “A Hidden Tragedy” that addresses the issue of the unsolved killings between uncontacted indigenous peoples, the Taromenane and Waorani, that took place in March 2013.

On September 23 and 25, the Ministry of the Interior, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Secretariat of Communication and assembly member Miguel Carvajal, sent several letters various media outlets requesting their right to response to several stories on matters of public interest.

On September 21, 2013, President Rafael Correa tore apart copies of three newspapers, El Comercio, La Hora and Hoy. He warned them that they must only publish stories on issues of public interest, as the Communications Law orders.