'Tragic year' for Latin America press: media group

[naaman fletcher]

MIAMI — Journalists in Latin America are suffering through their "most tragic year in two decades," with 19 reporters murdered in nine nations so far in 2011, the Inter-American Press Association said Friday.

Restrictions on the media in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Guatemala have also contributed to the deterioration of freedom of the press in the region, the Miami-based group said.

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The press association singled out Ecuador, calling on the government of President Rafael Correa to "cease persecution of the press" and withdraw a lawsuit against the daily El Universo.

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Cuba came in for special criticism, with the group saying it remains the "most restrictive" country in terms of press freedom in the hemisphere where "independent journalists are still hounded, arrested and temporarily jailed."

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