This update covers developments relating to the freedoms of expression, association and assembly in Uruguay from January to April 2026.
Expression
Journalist receives death threats after reporting on road safety
On 4th March 2026, journalist Marcelo Umpiérrez reported receiving around 20 intimidating telephone calls, including death threats, after publishing a video showing four trucks allegedly carrying out dangerous manoeuvres on Route 2, a national highway between Rodó and Palmitas in Soriano Department, in western Uruguay.
Umpiérrez said the callers insulted him, threatened to kill him and indicated that they knew where he lived. He filed a complaint at the 1st Police Station in Maldonado. His outlet, Cadena del Mar, a regional media organisation, separately reported the threats and Umpiérrez’s complaint to the police.
On the same day, the Centre for Archive and Access to Public Information (Centro de Archivo y Acceso a la Información Pública, Cainfo), a civil society organisation working on freedom of expression and access to information, called for an urgent investigation. It said that threatening a journalist because of his reporting constituted a serious interference with freedom of expression.
🚨Amenaza al #periodista Marcelo Umpiérrez @emekavoces es una afectación grave a su seguridad y no debe quedar impune
— Cainfo (@CAinfouy) March 4, 2026
🔴Cainfo manifiesta su preocupación por este episodio, que una vez más pone en riesgo a un periodista y constituye una amenaza grave a la #libertaddeexpresión… pic.twitter.com/paClAse0fA
Press worker assaulted during a demonstration outside Venezuelan Embassy
On 3rd January 2026, a protester assaulted a press worker operating a television camera during a confrontation outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo’s historic centre, knocking the camera to the ground. Police officers at the scene attempted to separate those involved and contain the confrontation. The incident occurred after a small group of supporters and opponents of the Venezuelan government gathered outside the embassy, following the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Tensions between the opposing groups escalated into a physical altercation involving some protesters, during which the press worker was attacked.
Police questioning of journalist prompts new safeguards for press freedom
On 17th January 2026, journalist Sebastián Cabrera Arzuaga, editor of “Qué Pasa”, a section of the Uruguayan newspaper El País, stated that police had summoned and questioned him for almost an hour about an investigative article concerning Richard Tesore and SOS Rescate Fauna Marina in Punta Colorada, after Tesore filed a defamation complaint. On 29th December 2025, police had previously gone to the newspaper’s offices looking for Cabrera and summoned him under Article 61 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows police to receive voluntary statements in certain circumstances. Cabrera said officers told him that no prosecutor had ordered the questioning.
In response, on 19th January 2026, CAinfo, a civil society organisation working on freedom of expression and access to information, expressed concern that police had questioned Cabrera about the substance of reporting on a matter of public interest. CAinfo warned that such questioning could have a chilling effect on investigative journalism. The National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsperson’s Office (INDDHH) subsequently opened an investigation on its own initiative (ex officio).
According to media reports, on 3rd February, the Maldonado 5th Shift Prosecutor’s Office, part of the public prosecution service, dismissed the defamation complaint. Prosecutors found insufficient grounds to establish the offence and no indication of the required standard of actual malice, a higher threshold concerning knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth in cases involving public interest expression.
The incident also prompted a broader change in police procedure for defamation and complaints involving journalists. According to the Uruguayan Press Association (APU), a national organisation representing journalists and media workers, the Interior Ministry issued an Order of Service on 12th February 2026 instructing police officers who receive complaints of defamation or insult not to take voluntary statements under Article 61 and instead to refer the cases directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The measure followed dialogue concerning the Cabrera case and represented an improvement in safeguards for independent journalism.
Fin de la novela: Fiscalía archivó la denuncia. Pero quedan muchas interrogantes sobre por qué la Policía actuó así. Y por qué las autoridades del Ministerio del Interior respaldaron el accionar del comisario Yoni Pimienta de Piriapolis (sigue)
— Sebastian Cabrera Arzuaga (@cabrera74) February 3, 2026
Uruguay adopts new press freedom commitments
On 6th April 2026, President Yamandú Orsi signed the Declaration of Chapultepec and the Declaration of Salta II, two sets of principles promoted by the Inter American Press Association (SIP) on freedom of expression, press freedom and rights in the digital environment.
Orsi pledged to respect the principles contained in the declarations and announced that his government would pay particular attention to protecting journalists from threats by organised crime and other forms of violence as it implemented its new National Security Plan. He also highlighted emerging threats to press freedom, including digital censorship, harassment facilitated through algorithms, and online smear campaigns.
According to the SIP, Orsi was the first head of state in the Southern Cone to sign the updated 2024 version of the Salta II Declaration.
Peaceful Assembly
Protests intensify against offshore fossil fuel exploration
On 18th February 2026, environmental organisations Mar Libre de Petroleras, Amigos del Océano and Red Unión de la Costa organised a protest in Punta del Este, a coastal city in the south-eastern part of the country, against planned offshore fossil fuel exploration. The exploration forms part of Uruguay’s offshore hydrocarbons programme and is intended to map geological structures that may contain oil or gas and identify areas considered suitable for possible subsequent exploratory drilling.
According to local media, hundreds of people gathered at the city’s port, calling for the nullification of contracts between the government and companies involved in offshore fossil-fuel exploration and seismic data acquisition. The organisers argued that seismic surveys threatened marine biodiversity and communities dependent on the sea.
On 11th February 2026, a civil court declared that it lacked jurisdiction to determine a precautionary measure brought by Mar Libre de Petroleras and the Society for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Maldonado (SOCOBIOMA). The organisations had sought to suspend activities associated with offshore exploration while the legality of contracts between the government and participating companies was examined. The ruling did not address the merits of their environmental claims, and the organisations appealed the decision.
As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, the mobilisation is part of a broader campaign to challenge offshore fossil-fuel exploration.
Union continues stoppages after breakdown in negotiations
On 31st January 2026, workers at the leather company Paycueros in Paysandú, in the western part of the country, held a peaceful assembly outside the plant on Avenida Salto as part of a series of intermittent work stoppages and other industrial actions. The Paycueros Workers’ Union (UTP), which represents employees at the company, said workers had mobilised after the company refused to continue negotiations, and announced that the industrial action would continue.
The mobilisation followed several weeks of labour tensions. On 22nd January, Paycueros placed six workers on unemployment insurance, a social security mechanism that provides temporary income support to workers who lose employment or face temporary suspension from work. UTP described the measure as a further attack on trade union organisation. The union also challenged the company’s assessment of its financial viability and argued that cost-cutting measures disproportionately affected lower-paid workers.
In December 2025, a court ordered Paycueros to reinstate six workers in a case concerning alleged violations of trade union rights.
Association
Public radio workers declare labour dispute over pay and working conditions
On 30th March 2026, workers at the public radio stations declared a formal labour dispute after an assembly convened by the Single Union of State Radio Workers (SUTRE), which represents employees in the public radio sector. The union cited unilateral salary reductions, precarious and unequal contractual arrangements, uncertainty over working hours and responsibilities, delayed payments and what it described as the progressive dismantling of public radio infrastructure.
SUTRE said workers had held several rounds of negotiations since December 2025 with public radio management and the National Audiovisual Communication Service (SECAN), the state body responsible for public radio and television services. An earlier round of bilateral talks had prompted the union to lift a precautionary industrial measure, allowing the 2026 programming schedule to proceed. SUTRE declared that subsequent meetings had produced no substantive progress on its demands.
The union also criticised what it described as the lack of a clear strategy for public broadcasting and a reduction in cultural programming. Workers therefore declared the dispute “urgent and serious”, saying management had failed to provide effective responses to the issues they had raised.
Trabajadores de las radios públicas se declaran en conflicto y anuncian medidas. pic.twitter.com/PPLD2ZDOyz
— Sindicato Único de Trabajadores Radios Estatales (@sutre_rnu) March 31, 2026
Other Developments
New agreement strengthens investigations into past human rights violations
On 11th February 2026, the INDDHH signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) to facilitate direct access to records held by the General Archive of the Nation, the National Library and the Civil Registry. Although Law No. 19.822 already gives the INDDHH access to information relevant to these investigations, the new agreement seeks to reduce administrative barriers and allow investigators to consult key documentary records more efficiently.
The agreement forms part of a broader effort by the INDDHH to strengthen cooperation with state institutions responsible for locating records related to enforced disappearances. The institution had already established similar arrangements with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Public Health, and the departmental governments of Montevideo and Canelones, while also developing agreements with the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
The agreement strengthened the INDDHH’s institutional capacity to access information relevant to the search for disappeared people and investigations into past human rights violations. It also supported efforts to establish the truth about enforced disappearances and improve access to information relevant to victims and their families.