Organization calls for transparency and adherence to due process.
Miami (February 19, 2026) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expresses concern over the intervention of Gráficos Nacionales S.A. (GRANASA), publisher of the newspapers Extra and Expreso, ordered by Ecuador’s Superintendency of Companies. The organization urges authorities to act with transparency and strict adherence to due process.
In a document sent on February 18 to GRANASA’s chief executive officer and general manager, Galo Eduardo Martínez Leisker, the Superintendency of Companies reported the intervention of the company “with the aim of overseeing its financial and economic operations and promoting the correction of identified irregularities, in order to avoid harm to its partners and/or third parties,” according to press reports.
The agency’s measure included the appointment of an external overseer who must submit monthly reports on the company’s situation, according to local media.
IAPA President Pierre Manigault said that “this decision raises serious concerns about respect for the fundamental guarantees of due process.” Manigault, president of the Evening Post Publishing Inc., based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, warned that “control over independent companies cannot, under any circumstances, become an indirect mechanism of censorship or editorial pressure.”
For her part, Martha Ramos, chair of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, added that “the intervention of GRANASA, under these circumstances, represents an intimidating act that may hinder the practice of free and independent journalism by creating a climate of fear of possible reprisals for the dissemination of information and critical opinions.”
Ramos, editorial director of the Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), called on the relevant authorities “to act with strict adherence to due process, ensure transparency in their actions, and refrain from any measure that could be interpreted as an attempt to curtail freedom of expression.”
The organization Fundamedios rejected the measure, describing it as “a disproportionate action and one that poses a high risk to editorial independence,” in a post on X. “This measure against a critical media outlet is part of a pattern of state decisions and directives that restrict and pressure the press from various public institutions,” Fundamedios added.
Referring in detail to the reasons for the measure, Expreso stated that “none of this, nor the intervention by the Superintendency of Companies, will bend the independence of the editorial and news line” of the newspapers.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.