On the morning of Feb. 3, mourners attacked journalists covering the burial of Anabel Arguello, a Venezuelan girl killed in a skirmish in the western city of Maracaibo, reported the website NotiZulia.
Bullet holes were found in the side of the offices of TV Oeste, an affiliate of the Brazilian broadcaster TV Bahia, on the morning of Jan. 4, in the northeastern city of Barreiras, reported the website G1. According to witnesses, two men on a motorcycle drove up to the building and fired three shots into its facade.
The 26-year-old Brazilian newspaper Já was forced to close after a court sentenced the publication to pay damages to the mother of the ex-governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Germano Rigotto, reported the newspaper O Expresso on Jan. 26. The newspaper had a circulation of five thousand in the city of Porto Alegre.
The Venezuelan hacker group N33 took over the Twitter accounts of two journalists critical of President Hugo Chávez, reported the weekly magazine Sexto Poder. The group is also responsible for other cyber attacks against opposition members, and is considered a growing threat to freedom of expression in the South American country.
On Jan. 27, a a marathon of hearings started for the Brazilian news website Congresso em Foco following the publication of a series of reports detailing salaries paid to politicians, judges and civil servants above the constitutional limit, the website reported.
A news team for the Venezuelan television broadcaster Globovisión was detained by the country's Bolivarian National Guard as they tried to cover an oil spill in the community of Pararí, in the state of Monagas, reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange on Jan. 27.
Brazilian journalists covering anniversary celebrations for the city of São Paulo were intimidated and attacked by protesters in Praça da Sé, in the city center, on Jan. 25, reported the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo.
Brazilian journalist Karen Santiago was kidnapped the evening of Jan. 19 while photographing flooding in a neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, reported Jornal na Net.
A reporting team for the Venezuelan television broadcaster RCTV was attacked at the Central University of Venezuela's (UCV in Spanish) communications school while covering violence that erupted after the release of student election results on Jan. 18, reported the organization Public Space.
Reporting on the repossession of land seized in the community of Pinheirinho, in São José dos Campos in the interior of the state of São Paulo, has been marred by police brutality and the curtailment of press freedom.