Bonil on trial in Ecuador
Ecuadorean cartoonist Bonil (Xavier Bonilla), who cartoons for the Guayaquil-based daily El Universo, has gone on trial for a cartoon published on August 5th, 2014. Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, publicly declared the cartoon “racist” because the cartoon’s political subject, ex-footballer Augusín Delgado, is black. The charge now being considered by Ecuador’s Superintendency of Communications (Supercom) is “socio-economic discrimination.” President Correa’s antagonism towards the press is well-documented. Correa’s actions against Bonil’s paper in 2010 was cited by the New York Times as a “campaign to silence and bankrupt El Universo, Ecuador’s largest newspaper” and condemned by Reporters Without Borders. [Full Story]