and carried out a campaign of slander and lies, misinforming citizens, inventing lies, taking information out of context, making inaccurate and defamatory statements with actual malice, a situation that continues even now”. 51 43. The formal accusations were made through lawsuits against the media outlet or its employees, and the verbal accusations were made mainly in the participation of the then President in the government radio and television called “Enlace Ciudadano”. 44. In relation to the former, on April 28, 2008, the then President requested the Governor of Guayas to initiate criminal proceedings against El Universo newspaper for the publication of an editorial entitled “Official Vandalism” (“Vandalismo oficial”). 52 In 2010, the journalist from El Universo, Tavra Franco, was sentenced to six months in prison, and ordered to pay compensation of three thousand dollars, based on the publication of a journalism piece in which he questioned a person in a case of human trafficking. 53 In 2014, El Universo newspaper had to pay a fine of USD $90,000 (ninety thousand United States dollars) for the publication of a cartoon that was considered by the government to be false, defamatory and inaccurate. 54 45. Regarding the verbal accusations, on different occasions, the then President made critical statements of various media outlets, and in particular of El Universo, its directors, and Emilio Palacio. 55 In this regard, on July 12, 2008, the then President made the following statement in “Enlace Ciudadano”: And here comes this poor sick man, Emilio Palacio, he even has a photo of me, believe me I already think that the poor man has a hormonal disorder. He even goes around with a photo of me raising hell on Teleamazonas, Wednesday morning, with Jorge Ortiz: "And here is President Correa, if he wants freedom of expression and that the media do not lie, he should not lie [...] ”. Don’t be ridiculous. How ridiculous they are. But so that you can see how far the human misery of these people reaches, and how this press, certain press, above all EL UNIVERSO newspaper, is in a terrible position, of wanting to discredit the President of the Republic by any means, but it is poisoned, the Pérez’s, well those Pérez Barriga, poor things, they don't even show up in the newspaper, it's this little man here, tiny in body, soul and spirit, and mind, Emilio Palacio, who only exudes hatred. He lives to prove how bad the president is. In psychology that's called projective psychology, it seems to me: when you hate homosexuals so much it's because deep down you want to be homosexual, when you hate the president so much, it's because this poor dwarf wants to be president, but he's never going to even become president of the parents' committee at his son's school, because everyone detests him. He has managed to unite the country: everyone detests him. 56 51 Amicus curiae brief submitted by Rafael Correa Delgado (merits file, folio 2486). Cf. IACHR. Report by the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression 2008, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.134, February 25, 2009, par. 106. 52 53 Cf. IACHR. Report by the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression 2010, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 5, March 7, 2011, par. 212. 54 Cf. IACHR. Preliminary Observations of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression following a visit to Ecuador, August 24, 2018, p. 5. 55 Cf. Statements of the President of the Republic regarding El Universo newspaper or its journalists (evidence file, folios 4427 to 4478). 56 Statements of the then President of the Republic regarding El Universo newspaper or its journalists (evidence file, folio 4434), and video of the program ‘Enlace Ciudadano’ of July 12, 2008 (evidence file, audiovisual material folder, minutes 1:36 to 3:16). 17