CELE Legislative Observatory

News of legislative and regulatory activity, judicial and administrative decisions

ARGENTINA BRASIL CHILE PARAGUAY PERU ECUADOR COLOMBIA MEXICO GUATEMALA

Number of LATAM bills of law as of January 2023

COUNTRIES PROJECTS
ARGENTINA 7
BRAZIL 28
CHILE 3
COLOMBIA 14
ECUADOR 2
GUATEMALA -
MEXICO 13
PARAGUAY 2
PERU 2

Topics bills presented between August 2021 and January 2023

Access to information 6.9%
Bullying 10.3%
Apologia 5.2%
Freedom of expression 8.6%
Equality and non-discrimination 17.2%
Internet Access 1.7%
Privacy 1.7%
Protection of minors 15.5%
Reputation and honor 5.2%
Content moderation 5.2%
Gender Violence 5.2%
Indigenous rights 3.4%
Fake News 1.7%

Topics the of bills presented between August 2021 and January 2023

Access to information 4.8%
Bullying 9.5%
Apologia 4.8%
Freedom of worship 1.6%
Equality and non-discrimination 15.9%
Official advertising 4.8%
Fake News 1.6%
Protection of minors 14.3%
Reputation and honor 4.8%
Content moderation 4.8%

04/01

The UN accepts recommendations from FOPEA on Freedom of Expression for Argentina. Among the recommendations and alerts presented by the organization, the request for a visit from the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Expression and opinion to the country of Argentina was incorporated, given the concern about the attacks on journalists, mentioning the cases of Irene Benito (Tucumán), Daniel Enz (Entre Ríos) and Daniel Santoro (City of Buenos Aires). 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Journalists denounce "serious problems" in accessing public information. According to SIPs, in Argentina “The number of reported cases of acts of violence against journalists is still sensitive, in addition to two serious attacks on the media. In addition, it seems that the strategy against journalism consists of intimidating, accusing and discrediting. Added to this are the efforts to control the media.” 

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS ACCESS TO INFORMATION

12/12

Bill aims to prohibit ideological manifestations of public bodies. Federal Representative Kim Kataguiri (UNIÃO/SP) presented a bill in the Chamber of Deputies – PL 2957 / 2022 – which provides for ideological neutrality in the activities of the Public Administration in Brazil. The bill seeks to ban, for any public official that performs administrative activities in the executive, legislative and judicial branches, the Public Ministry and the Public Defender's Office: (i) the promotion or criticism of candidates or political parties; (ii) the use of neutral language that "shows ideological positioning"; (iii) the encouragement or discouragement of "any type of behavior related to sexuality and gender expression, except as necessary to comply with criminal law"; (iv) the promotion of "any type of racial division between people", except what is "necessary to comply with criminal law". In the justification of the project, the deputy affirms the need for the administrative bodies "to exclusively exercise their functions, without entering the field of political discussions, not even covertly." In addition, he stresses that it is inappropriate to use public human and financial resources to "play politics" and "launch campaigns [...] that have nothing to do with their activities." 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Bill seeks to grant amnesty to political protesters of the elections. The House of Representatives received the bill 2954/2022, by federal deputy José Medeiros (PL/MT), which proposes to grant amnesty to all protesters who have financed or participated in protests related to the 2022 elections and "related issues". the bill extends the amnesty to all those who have demonstrated, through individual or collective acts, in protests that have taken place in the period between June 1, 2022 and its entry into force, and contemplates any "speech, comment or publication in social networks or any platform on the Internet». Excluded from the scope of the amnesty are abuse of authority and liability offenses committed exclusively by judicial authorities.. The amnesty would cover all administrative and criminal sanctions applied by any branch of the Republic "even if they derive from non-compliance with requirements, precautionary measures, or through final or non-appealable decisions or sentences, as well as by any body of the public administration and any public entity. In the justification, the deputy cites the great polarization in the last presidential elections and the demand for clarification on the security of the ballot boxes as reasons for "questioning and peaceful ideological manifestations", which, according to him, are "legitimate and perfectly natural in the context of a Democratic State of Law”. The deputy adds that "the judiciary, which should be the guarantor of the free exercise of fundamental constitutional rights, has applied a series of interventionist measures that violate the rights of assembly and expression of thought." 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

13/12

The social networks of a judge are suspended for political publications.  According to the website of the National Justice Council (CNJ), the National Justice Corregidor, Luis Felipe Salomón, determined that Instagram and Twitter should suspend the profiles of the judge of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) Maria do carmo cardoso. The decision was due to publications made by the magistrate that encouraged and praised anti-democratic mobilizations surrounding military installations in some Brazilian cities. The minister argued that there was an urgency in blocking the content to avoid new non-administrative and electoral violations, in order to maintain institutional and social harmony until the date of the inauguration of the President and Vice President of the Republic. He also pointed out that, although the expression of thought and freedom of expression are fundamental rights, they are not absolute, so they must be made compatible with the rest of the rights and guarantees of a Rule of Law, "especially the right to be tried before an impartial and independent magistrate who respects the dignity of office and justice."

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

The bill aims to make the criminal action for the crime of racial defamation public and unconditional. Presented to the Chamber of Deputies on Bill No. 2972/2022, authored by Federal Deputy Acácio Favacho (MDB/AP), with the aim of prosecuting cases of racial defamation, provided for in art. 140 §3 of the Penal Code, is public without condition. According to the proposed text, the prosecution of cases of racist insults will not depend on the presentation of a criminal complaint by the victim, but on the Prosecutor's Office. In the justification of the bill, the deputy states that the proposed text seeks to harmonize the procedure for exercising criminal action against crimes of racial offense with the understanding of the Federal Supreme Court, which held that the crime of racial offense is a type of the racism genre and, therefore, imprescriptible, in the terms of article 5, XLII, of the Federal Constitution. The parliamentarian highlights the need for the measure to confront racism in Brazil, considering that the victim of the crime of racism (as confirmed by the decision of the Federal Supreme Court) "is not only the offended person, but all of humanity."

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RACISM PENAL CODE

The regulation of lobbying in Brazil faces challenges of freedom of expression. The bill to regulate the lobby in Brazil, PL 4391 / 2021, is now going through modifications in the Labor and Administration Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. According to a matter published in the newspaper JOTA, the text establishes as an administrative infraction "acting in a way that embarrasses or harasses the participants of events with face-to-face, tele-presential or telematic interaction", which could "lead to the representative (or to the organization represented by him) a sanction that can reach up to 5% of the gross income (article 17, §5) in addition to the suspension of the professional for up to 30 days”. The authors emphasize that “the verbs 'shame' and 'harass' leave room for broad interpretations and can even lead to responsibility for the free expression of thought, freedom of expression and speeches in defense of the guarantee of rights”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

15/12

The Federal Police begins operations against Bolsonaro supporters who block the roads in Brazil. According to a matter in JOTA, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), authorized 103 search and seizure measures, four arrest warrants, as well as the breaking of bank secrecy, the seizure of passports, the suspension of CAC certificates (Collector, Sport Shooter and Hunter) and the blocking of bank accounts of suspects to organize and finance anti-democratic acts. The minister also ordered the blocking of 168 profiles on social networks. This is the largest operation against the financiers of anti-democratic acts ever carried out. The measures were fulfilled by PF on Thursday (15/12) in eight states – Acre, Amazonas, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rondonia and Santa Catarina – and the Federal District. The names of the recipients of the orders issued by Moraes were not disclosed. The operation occurs after the Bolsonaristas promoted a raid in Brasilia, burning vehicles, and just over two weeks after the end of the government. The decisions were made within the framework of the actions that investigate illegal and anti-democratic acts related to September 7, abuses and attacks on the STF and financing of digital militias.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ELECTIONS

01/01

Government Lula publishes regulation of the new ministerial organization. President Lula issued the Provisional Measure 1.154/2023, organizing the basic structure of the organs of the Presidency of the Republic of the Ministries. Under the new structure, the Ministry of Justice will be in charge of personal data processing policies, while the Digital Government Strategy will be in charge of the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services, under the responsibility of the Digital Government Secretariat. The Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom) will be separated from the Ministry of Communications, which will have a digital inclusion department, subordinated to the Telecommunications Secretariat. The new Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, said during his inauguration that the population's access to the Internet, digital inclusion and the use of communication media in education are among his priorities. 

In addition, on 01.01, it was published decree 11.362/2023, which deals with the structure and powers of the Secom. Among the responsibilities of the Secretariat are the coordination and implementation of actions for access to information and the fight against disinformation, the promotion of freedom of expression and of the press, and the formulation of policies for the promotion of pluralism and freedom of the press. Paulo Pimenta, in charge of said Secretariat, stated that Secom will discuss a policy for the digital world with the Ministries of Justice, Communications and Science and Technology, but it will not have regulatory or police power over digital platforms. Secom will also have a Digital Policies Secretariat, for which João Brant was appointed. The Secretary stated that will use the European, Canadian and Australian experiences of remuneration of journalism by platforms as a reference for policies to strengthen professional journalism. On 01.01, President Lula also created, through the decree 11.328 / 2023, National Attorney of the Union for the Defense of Democracy. The body exists within the structure of the Federal Attorney of the Nation (Advocacia Geral da União – AGU) and, among others, has the function of “representing the Union, judicially and extrajudicially, in lawsuits and procedures to respond and face the misinformation about public policies”.

DIGITAL RIGHTS LIABILITY OF INTERMEDIARIES

08/01 

Alexandre de Moraes grants the request of the Federal Attorney General's Office (Advocacia Geral da União – AGU) and determines the blocking of accounts on social networks and the arrest of those involved. The Federal Attorney General's Office (AGU) filed an appeal before the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in which he requests the adoption of measures to contain the anti-democratic acts that occurred in Praça dos Tres Poderes, in Brasilia. The AGU requested (i) the vacancy of federal public buildings throughout the national territory and the dissolution of all anti-democratic acts in military units; (ii) the arrest of all those involved in the acts of invasion, including the former Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District (Brasília) and the public agents responsible for acts or omissions; (iii) the identification and removal, by social media platforms, of content that incites acts of invasion and depredation of public buildings throughout the national territory; (iv) the interruption of the monetization of profiles and transmission of media, by social platforms, that promote acts of invasion and depredation of public buildings throughout the national territory; (v) the storage, by telecommunications companies, of connection records to identify users in Praça dos Três Poderes on the day of the events and (vi) the civil and criminal liability of those responsible for illegal acts. Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, granted the requests of the Attorney General's Office and also determined the ex officio sending to Facebook, TikTok and Twitter to block channels and profiles identified as responsible for inciting anti-democratic acts. On 01.10, Moraes ordered the arrest of the former Secretary of Security of the Federal District, Anderson Torres.

DISINFORMATION ELECTIONS

09/01

The Republic Prosecutor's Office (Federal Public Ministry – MPF) opens an investigation against Jovem Pan for misinformation, incitement to anti-democratic acts and abuse of public concession. The Federal Public Ministry opened a civil investigation against Red Joven Pan for the alleged dissemination of disinformation content and abuse of public concession. The process indicates violent acts that culminated in the invasion of the buildings of the 3 powers of the Republic by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, which took place on 01.08, generating incalculable damage to the patrimony of the seats of government. The MPF verified, through a preliminary investigation, that Red Jovem Pan disseminated disinformation "to undermine the confidence of citizens in the adequacy of Brazilian judicial institutions and in the health of the democratic processes they conduct." The document that opens the investigation cites statements by journalists and commentators from the channel, and establishes that abuses of the freedom of broadcasting can be punished with a fine, suspension of the concession for up to thirty days and, at the limit, its cancellation. In addition to the initiation of the civil investigation, the ordinance requests that those responsible for the Red Joven Pan: (i) provide detailed information on the contents referred to in the ordinance; (ii) share the radio programming in the last year; (iii) report identification documents and addresses of all presenters and commentators who participated in the radio during this period; and (iv) refrain from making changes to the channels controlled by the channel on YouTube. It also requests those responsible for YouTube to keep all the videos published by Jovem Pan, notifying the deleted videos and those mentioned in the ordinance.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DISINFORMATION ELECTIONS

Facebook and Instagram agree to remove content about the attack on Brasilia after the STF's decision. After one decision of Minister Alexandre de Moraes which determined that the platforms identify and eliminate content that promotes acts of vandalism and incites the invasion of federal public buildings, the Meta company informed, through its representative Andy Stone, which is already removing the requests, in addition to stating that “even before the elections, we designated Brazil as a temporary high-risk location and began to remove content that incites people to take up arms or invade Congress, the Palace of the Planalto and other public buildings”. Following the STF's decision, all platforms must comply with the measure, and must also stop the monetization of the profiles associated with the attack that occurred in Brasilia, eliminating transmissions that could promote other invasions and depredations of public buildings in any part of the territory. national.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION LIABILITY OF INTERMEDIARIES

15/01

National Council of Justice determines suspension of judge's social networks for publications considered to be of a partisan nature. El National Corregidor of Justice, Luis Felipe Salomão, of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), determined the suspension of the accounts of all social networks of Judge Luis Carlos Valois, of the Court of Justice of Amazonas (TJ/AM), for allegedly incompatible with your functional duties as a judge. In the decision, the Corregidor listed the judge's publications on different social networks, classifying them as partisan in nature. Salomão mentions that article 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet “allows the unavailability of content that violates domestic legislation, even under penalty of civil liability of the application provider in case of omission”. 

He also argues that the manifestation of thought and freedom of expression are fundamental constitutional rights of magistrates, inside and outside of social networks, but that they are not absolute rights. According to the Corregidor, in order to guarantee due protection to the Democratic Rule of Law, it is necessary to urgently impose the suspension - to avoid new administrative infractions - of Valois' profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Corregidor also ordered the filing of a disciplinary complaint against the judge and the issuance of a letter of order to the internal affairs department of the TJ/AM, so that it promotes a personal summons to the judge. Finally, Salomão determined that the companies Twitter and Meta should receive an order to immediately suspend Valois's profiles, under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 20.000. The platforms followed the decision and suspended the Valois accounts.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION LIABILITY OF INTERMEDIARIES

25/01

Alexandre de Moraes fines Telegram R$ 1,2 million for not blocking the profile of congressman Nikolas Ferreira. El Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), determined that the Telegram platform pay, in five days, a fine of R $1,2 million, for breach of a judicial order to block the profile of the elected federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG). The decision, issued on 11.01, determined the blocking of profiles of agents who used the application to promote anti-democratic acts. The platform had a period of two hours, counted from the receipt of the court order, on 13.01, to remove the determined profiles, under penalty of a daily fine of R $100.000 in case of non-compliance. Telegram decided not to block the account of parliamentarian Nikolas Ferreira, alleging that the measure would be disproportionate, since it would violate freedom of expression and would set up censorship. In response, Moraes issued a decision stressing that any breach must be prosecuted in accordance with the parameters established by law. The Minister applied a fine based on the days of non-compliance and reiterated that the position of the platform indicated agreement with the continuity of the crimes investigated.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION LIABILITY OF INTERMEDIARIES

25/01

The College of Journalists denies the decision issued by the Court of Guarantee of Concepción where the director of the newspaper Resumen is sentenced for insults and slander in the framework of a journalistic investigation of public officials. 

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

11/01

The Constitutional Court of Colombia announced its decision in the case T-454 of 2022, in which he reversed a million-dollar sentence in a defamation case against the journalist Vicky Dávila. In May 2014, the radio station La FM, directed by Dávila, published a story linking Police Colonel Jorge Hilario Estupiñán to a corruption case. Three years after the publication of the story, in August 2017, the colonel and his family filed a claim for damages against the journalist and the station, arguing that the comments constituted libel and slander. 

Despite the fact that the journalist and the media outlet were exonerated in the first instance, the second instance court sentenced them in 2020 to pay compensation of 165 million pesos. Towards the end of 2020, Dávila and La FM filed protection actions against the second instance decision, arguing mainly that the decision was a direct violation of the constitution, especially article 20, which protects freedom of expression. The guardianships were accumulated and ruled jointly by the Supreme Court of Justice, being granted in the first instance and denied in the second. Finally, the case was selected to be reviewed by the Constitutional Court. 

In its decision, the constitutional court reiterated its standards on freedom of expression, such as the one that establishes that the press can publish stories about events that have not been resolved by judicial authorities or even contradict what the authorities said.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

25/01

The decision of the Constitutional Court to reject as inadmissible the protection action presented by the senator and former mayor Juan Pablo Gallo Maya, who sought edit the information that appears in Wikipedia. Gallo argued that Wikipedia was violating his rights to good name, honor and the presumption of innocence by not allowing him to edit the information that is available in the "Controversies" section. The Court considered that the guardianship was not appropriate, since the senator did not resort to the mechanisms provided by the platform itself in these cases. 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

17/01

The journalist Andersson Boscán reported that public officials had requested large sums of money with the apparent purpose of benefiting Danilo Carrera, brother-in-law of Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso. In light of said complaint, the journalist was sued for moral damages in the amount of $500.000. Situation that concerned the organizations experts in freedom of expression, due to the overreach in the lawsuit. 

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

15/12

El journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva suffered an attack to his life. During the months of December 2022 and January 2023, the Secretariat for Citizen Security and the Attorney General's Office, both in Mexico City, have carried out an investigation and arrest of people related to the events of December 15, 2022. 

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

05/01

In the framework of acts of violence in the State of Sinaloa, several media outlets suffered attacks (theft of four cars, five thefts of work equipment, and threats with firearms). Therefore, Article 19 urged the President of the Republic and the Governor of Sinaloa to reject the attacks suffered by the press and provide urgent protection measures to journalists and their families, and the Attorney General of the Republic and General Justice of Sinaloa to carry out diligent investigations into the facts. And, finally, that the owners of the press provide preventive and protective measures to their staff.  

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

09/01

El News Director Esma Valles He received threats at his home that are related to reports published in December 2022 and January 2023 in relation to Sugar Cane. In this regard, Article 19 exhorts the Government of San Luis Potosí to condemn the attack against the press and the State Attorney General's Office to carry out a diligent investigation. Likewise, it requested the Mechanism for the Protection of Defenders and Journalists to incorporate this threat to the journalist into its risk analysis. 

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

10/01

R3D expressed its concern with the resolution of the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data in which it denied the request for transparency of the FANID under the assumption of protection of Industrial Secret, without considering that the information on how these tools that capture and store biometric data work must be considered of public interest. For R3D it is worrying that this database is shared with authorities from the Secretariat for Citizen Security.  

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

16/01

R3D refers to the arrests of former public servants of the Government of the former Head of Government, Miguel Ángel Mancera who are related to a government espionage network, through the modification of the organic structure of the Government of Mexico City in the structure of the Government Secretariat, and the installation of various false antennas. 

PRIVACY

17/01

El National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data indicated that the Attorney General's Office (FGR) must make public the number of complaints for the opening and use of clandestine drinking water intakes in the country.  

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

18/01

R3D reported that the Mexican Football Federation reported that the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data fined them for the registration of people who attended matches of the Mexican National Team in the Aztec State, although it specified that the sanction is not related to the FANID application.  

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

22/01

El National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data, Through Commissioner Josefina Román Vergara, she invited the public to criminally denounce the Montadeudas applications, considering that they violate the Federal Law for the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties. 

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

25/01

Radio Cáritas denounces threats against its work. Miguel Ángel Ortiz, director of the communication company, pointed out that an unknown person contacted the station by telephone to demand, under threats and intimidation, that it withdraw or otherwise eliminate a publication from which details of a special investigation were obtained. by the authorities. 

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

19/01

The judicial power sentenced, in the first instance, the journalist Milagros Leiva and Willax Televisión, as a responsible third party, for defamation to the detriment of the former Minister of Women and Vulnerable Populations Anahí Durand. In a questionable sentence, the judge considered that she had offended Durand, due to a television note in which it was indicated that Durand had ties to terrorism. In the note, it was indicated that Durand had had a sentimental relationship with a person convicted of the crime of terrorism, had participated in the presentation of a book by another convicted ex-terrorist, and had signed a statement requesting the change of penitentiary center from another defendant for terrorism Leiva was sentenced "to a conviction with rules of conduct for one year and the payment of 20 soles." The journalist announced that she will appeal the sentence.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DEFAMATION

Throughout the month of January, in different regions of the country, there were a series of demonstrations in protest of the government of President Dina Boluarte, in which reporters from various media outlets were attacked by protesters. Among them, we can mention the reporter Lourdes Paucar and the cameraman Willy Nueva from Canal N, attacked in the center of Lima on January 19, the journalist from La Encerrona, Jonathan Castro, attacked physically on January 19 in Miraflores by members of the group called La Resistencia, who also tried to seize the camera from reporters Adriana Adriazola, from La Gazzeta, and Fiorela Cárdenas, from Radio Contacto Sur, harassed by a subject who approached while they were covering the protestss on January 19 in the city of Arequipa, and to the workers of a press team from América Televisión, who were injured after being attacked by a group of protesters who threw stones at them on January 20 in downtown Lima. 

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

21/01

The journalist Patricia Condori, from the Juliaca Journalists Network, the reporter from Radio Huancané and Líder TV, Percy Pampamallco Yancachajlla, and the reporter from Radio Sudamericana from Juliaca, César Huasaca Abarca, were arbitrarily detained by the Police when they were covering the police intervention at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS FREEDOM OF THE PRESS