Gunmen killed the driver of a bus carrying seven journalists who were traveling to cover a campaign appearance by a presidential candidate. One of the reporters was injured when the bus flipped over. Monday's attack occurred when reporters from Port au Prince were driving to Gonaives for an appearance by Jacques Edouard Alexis, one of the leading candidates for the Nov. 28 presidential election. After killing the driver, the attackers stole money and a computer from the reporters, the Associated Press says. Three suspec
President Juan Manuel Santos revealed that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had been ordered to kill journalist Olga Cecilia Vega, who according to the group had infiltrated the FARC and worked for intelligence agencies from the United States, EFE and RCN Radio reported.
The Federal Police are working to indict journalist Amaury Ribeiro Júnior for his alleged role in violating the financial privacy of individuals linked to opposition presidential candidate José Serra, O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo report.
A man identifying himself as the brother of the former state prosecutor of Chihuahua, Patricia González, declared in a video that he and his sister are part of the criminal organization “La Línea,” also known as the Juárez cartel, Milenio reports.
The legislature of the northern border state of Chihuahua unanimously passed several legal reforms that will punish those who kill on-duty police officers and journalists with life in prison, El Diario de Juárez and Milenio report.
One the eve of the country’s Day of the Journalist, celebrated Oct. 23, President José Mujica said the press is “an absolutely necessary and indispensable evil” that shouldn’t be “tinkered” with, El País reports.
In order to comply with the constitution, banks had until this week to divest their stakes in the country’s media outlets leading to ownership changes for at least two TV stations, BBC Mundo and El Comercio report.
Police have arrested a man in Rio Grande do Norte state who has confessed to killing radio journalist Francisco Gomes de Medeiros on Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. Gomes was a local radio news director and blogger who had reported on corruption and crime, including drug trafficking.
The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Cuban Guillermo Fariñas, the journalist and dissident who spent more than four months on a hunger strike in an effort to pressure authorities to free political prisoners on the island, reported the Associated Press and BBC.
Esneider Mayorga Corrales. the former mayor of Curillo, in southern Colombia, received 40 years in prison for ordering the killing of journalist and community leader Hernando Salas Rojas last year, reported the news agency EFE. The hit-man who committed the murder, Elber Parra Cuéllar, was sentenced to 42 years.