The criminal court of Lima, Perú, began a new trial for the killing of a journalist, named Alberto Rivera, who was shot by hitmen in April 2004 after denouncing a mayor for corruption, according to La República.
Journalist and political activist Wilfred Iván Ojeda Peralta was found dead of a bullet wound to the head in the northern city of Revenga, Aragua, Reuters reported. Ojeda’s body was discovered Tuesday, May 17, 2011.
Multivisión (MVS), the same Mexican broadcaster that fired a journalist in February 2011 for commenting on opposition allegations that President Felipe Calderón was an alcoholic, has created an ombudsman position at the station, El Informador reports.
At an indigenous mass wedding attended by Bolivian President Evo Morales and several of his ministers, police forcefully expelled a journalist covering the May 7 event in La Paz, Opinión reports.
Six months after Chilean community radio station Radio Tentación in November 2010 was closed and its equipment seized, the station's members find themselves on trial for broadcasting without authorization, reported the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, or AMARC.
Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli is organizing a national dialogue on freedom of expression, to be held on Saturday, May 14, 2011, in response to allegations of threats and abuse perpetrated by government officials against journalists, EFE reports.
Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, ordered the country's media to show more patriotism and support the government's strategy of bringing Chile before an international court in order to obtain access to the Pacific Ocean, according to El Deber.
Cameraman Alejandro Márquez was shot in the leg May 10, 2011, during violent disturbances in the city of Medellín, Colombia, Caracol Radio reports.
A series of videos that attack Panamanian journalists, especially those at La Prensa newspaper, were released at the end of April. Reporters without Borders (RSF) argues that their release is related to the publication of WikiLeaks cables that were not to President Ricardo Martinelli’s liking.
Approximately 40 journalists from different media outlets in the Pacific port city of Buenaventura walked out of their workplaces on May 9, 2011 to protest threats and violence faced by reporters in the region, El País reports.