The record
Incidents in South America, stage: silence
Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
All filters: country, dates, head of government, sort
Milei's government shuts down Argentina's state news agency Telam
President Javier Milei's government fenced off and shut down Telam, Argentina's state-owned news agency, calling it a public-relations operation for the prior Kirchnerist governments; unions and journalist groups called the closure one of…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Javier Milei · Sustained
Venezuela: the government declines to renew RCTV's broadcast concession
Venezuela's government let Radio Caracas Television's twenty-year broadcast concession expire rather than renew it, replacing the country's most-watched channel with a new state broadcaster; a regional human rights court later found the de…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Hugo Chavez · Sustained
Chile's military government shuts opposition radio stations and newspapers after the 1973 coup
On the day of the September 11, 1973 military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende, Chile's armed forces bombed and shut down radio stations that opposed the takeover, arrested journalists and closed newspapers aligned with the o…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Augusto Pinochet · Sustained
Brazil's military government decrees the Fifth Institutional Act and moves to control the press
On the night of December 13, 1968, Brazil's military government, led by President Artur da Costa e Silva, decreed the Fifth Institutional Act, suspending constitutional guarantees and recessing the national Congress. A United States Embass…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Artur da Costa e Silva · Unknown
Argentina: President Juan Perón's government hands the expropriated newspaper La Prensa to the CGT labor federation, October 1951
La Prensa, one of Argentina's leading newspapers and a longtime critic of President Juan Perón's government, was expropriated by the state earlier in 1951. In October 1951, the government formally handed the paper to the Confederación Gene…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Juan Perón · Sustained
Brazil's Vargas government creates a state messaging department with broad press powers
President Getúlio Vargas created the Department of Press and state messaging in 1939 during Brazil's Estado Novo dictatorship, giving the government direct control over what newspapers, radio and film could publish. The department operated…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Getúlio Vargas · Reversed
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