Ecuador

On May 5, 2009, Milton Nelson Chacaguasay Flores, director and editor of the weekly publication La Verdad in the city of Machala, was released on parole after serving six months in prison on libel charges. Chacaguasay told CPJ that on June 8, 2009, he was again charged with slander and sentenced to four months in prison. He said he believed the second prison sentence was an attempt to silence his reporting on local government corruption.

New York, June 4, 2009--The opening of two government investigations into private television network Teleamazonas and threats of legal action by Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa against critical media outlets are an attempt by the government to stifle dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On March 13, 2009, Ecuadoran journalist Emilio Palacio told local reporters that he had received threats against himself and his family following a March 1 article criticizing President Rafael Correa's weekly radio address. 

A July government takeover of almost 200 businesses, including two private television stations that drew nearly 40 percent of the country’s news audience, enabled leftist President Rafael Correa to further his political agenda and gain greater control of the media. After the move, Correa won a decisive victory in a referendum on a new constitution that will broaden executive powers and potentially weaken press freedom.

Dear President Correa: We are writing to express alarm at the imprisonment of two Ecuadoran journalists and to call for their immediate and unconditional release. Furthermore, we urge you to use the authority of your office to reform Ecuador's archaic defamation laws, which are incompatible with international standards of freedom of expression and rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

New York, July 8, 2008--Ecuadoran government agents seized two private television stations early this morning and shuttered a critical radio station late Monday night. The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by allegations that the actions were politically motivated. Members of the government's Deposit Guarantee Agency (AGD), backed by dozens...

Nova York, 8 de julho de 2008--Agentes do governo equatoriano intervieram em duas estações privadas de televisão nesta manhã e fecharam uma estação de rádio crítica na noite de segunda-feira. O Comitê para a Proteção dos Jornalistas (CPJ) está preocupado com as acusações que sugerem que tais ações tiveram motivações...

New York, June 23, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ecuadorian authorities to investigate the death of Raúl Rodríguez Coronel, who was shot to death this morning in Guayaquil. CPJ is investigating all possible links between Rodríguez’s work as a journalist and his death. Rodríguez, news vice president and...

Attacks & developments throughout the region...

ECUADOR President Rafael Correa regularly bashed the news media after taking office in January, reflecting increasing tensions between his young socialist government and the powerful business groups that control the country’s media. Correa immediately called for a new constitution that would expand the power of the executive branch, loosen term...