Panama: Ecuadoran newspaper publisher offered asylum

Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli offered asylum to Ecuadoran publisher Carlos Pérez Barriga, one of the owners of the El Universo newspaper. Last week Pérez was sentenced to three years in prison and 26m GBP in fines for defaming Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa. Emilio Palacio, the journalist who penned the editorial that provoked Correa’s libel complaint, has sought asylum in the US. Pérez’s brothers — who are co-owners — are also currently in the United States and reportedly fear returning to Ecuador.

Trinidad: Police raid newspaper

Police in Trinidad raided the daily newspaper Newsday on 9 February and searched the home of one of its journalists, seizing three computers and two mobile phones belonging to him. Andre Bagoo has refused to reveal his sources or hand over material relating to a report published by the paper in December about an alleged conflict within the country’s integrity commission, an independent body that oversees the ethical practices of those in public life. Bagoo and the paper argue the story is of major public interest.

Ecuador: Pro-Correa libel verdict upheld

Ecuador‘s highest court has upheld a criminal libel verdict favouring President Rafael Correa, sentencing three newspaper executives and a columnist each to three years in prison ordering them to pay a total of around 26 million GBP in damages. The case was brought by Correa against opposition paper El Universo, which published a column that referred to the president as ”the Dictator”, claiming he “ordered discretionary fire — without prior notification — against a hospital full of civilians and innocent people” during a September 2010 police revolt over government plans to cut police benefits that claimed at least five lives. The verdict is not subject to appeal.

Brazil: Second journalist killed in under a week

Brazilian newspaper editor Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues was shot dead on Sunday night, making him the second Brazilian journalist killed in less than a week and the third in 2012. The journalist, who was known as Paulo Rocaro, was driving home at night in Ponta Porá, a city near the country’s border with Paraguay, when two men on a motorcycle shot him at least five times. Cardoso was the editor of the local daily Jornal Da Praça and news website Mercosul News, and frequently wrote about local politics.

Brazil: Political journalist shot dead

Brazilian political journalist Mário Randolfo Marques Lopes and his girlfriend were kidnapped and shot dead in the early hours of 9 February in Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro state. Known for being critical of local authorities on his website, Lopes had faced more than one attempt on his life. He was reportedly shot five times in the head when a gunman burst into the website’s newsroom around four months ago, and survived being shot three times at his home last July.

Cuba: Journalist faces decades in prison

A Cuban journalist is facing more than ten years in prison for alleged corruption offences. José Antonio Torres, a correspondent for Granma, the party newspaper, in Santiago de Cuba, was detained on 11 March, 2011 after writing two articles criticising a major government infrastructure project. In the articles, Torres said experts undertaking the rebuilding of a key aqueduct intended to supply water to the city’s inhabitants, had claimed that “ineptitude” and “poor workmanship” had caused parts of the aqueduct wall’s veneer to fall off. The journalist also wrote that the project should have been “better planned.” Torres was initially charged with being an “agent of the CIA” and leaking confidential information abroad.

Dominican Republic: Radio reporter becomes first journalist facing jail for libel

Radio journalist Johnny Alberto Salazar has been found guilty of libelling a lawyer, he is the first journalist to be jailed for defamation in the Dominican Republic. Salazar made comments on his radio station about local murders and said that lawyer Pedro Baldera Gomez, who works for the Human Rights Commission of Nagua, had defended a number of thieves in the area. Salazar has been ordered to pay a one million Dominican Peso (approx. 16,705 GBP) fine and spend six months in jail.

Cuba: Jailed dissident dies after hunger strike

Dissident Wilmar Villar Mendoza, has died in a hospital in eastern Cuba following a 56-day hunger strike. Villar launched his strike shortly after his November arrest, after which he was put on trial and sentenced to four years in prison for crimes including disobedience, resistance and crimes against the state. Fellow opposition activists have claimed mistreatment by the Cuban government contributed to Villar’s death.