César Ríos, director of Argentine newspaper Síntesis, was attacked earlier this month when a group of unknown men threw a home-made bomb to his house in San Lorenzo, in the province of Santa Fe, according to the Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities (ADPEA).
Twenty journalists were attacked, and eleven were arrested during the protests that took place in several cities across Venezuela last week, says a report issued by the Media Workers National Press Union (SNTP).
A group of journalists and defenders of freedom of expression called for Mexican citizens to protest the insecurity and violence faced by press workers in the country on Sunday, Feb. 23. The group announced their call to action through a press statement given in Veracruz on Sunday, Feb. 16.
After finding the body of Mexican reporter Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz on Feb. 11, Veracruz state authorities said the kidnapping and killing were likely motivated by personal vengeance -- something other journalists are finding hard to believe, the Associated Press reported.
Álvaro Dias, senator for the Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB-PR), asked the Brazilian Senate on Feb. 10 to consider giving protection to Fábio Porchat, the director of Porta dos Fundos, due to various death threats made against the satirist Brazilian humor site, G1 reported on Feb. 11.
During peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Colombian government spied on communications between the group’s spokespeople and international journalists who were covering the events, Univisión reported.
The Colombian news channel NTN 24, which transmits through cable in Venezuela, was taken off the air after reporting on the massive protests that shook the entire country on Feb. 12. According to Caracol Radio, the Venezuelan government said the news channel was misinforming on the events.
More than 20 years after the fall of the dictatorships and civil wars that dominated Latin America, the region continues to be marked by a strong retaliation against the press, according to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) most recent annual index on the state of press freedom, which was published on Feb. 12.
The Foundation for Freedom of the Press (abbreviated as FLIP in Spanish) published its annual report about the situation of press freedom in Colombia on Feb. 11. The report states that in 2013 a total of 194 individuals were victims of 123 direct attacks against the press.
Northern Mexico has fallen into a state of fear creating a silenced media that is less willing to report crime and take on investigative pieces, according a recent University of Arizona study.