The International Press Institute released a statement on Monday, Feb. 18, warning of rising impunity for crimes against journalists in Brazil and insisting the Congress approve a bill that would allow federal authorities to investigate attacks on press workers in the country.
After winning a five-year battle for the right to travel outside Cuba, blogger Yoani Sánchez was met by protestors when she deplaned after arriving at her first international destination, Brazil. Demonstrators in the airport lounge supporting the Castro regime held signs accusing Sánchez of being under the influence of the United States, reported the website Terra.
The São Paulo State Union of Professional Journalists denounced threats journalists received and other obstacles they faced while reporting in the interior of the state at the beginning of 2013, according to a statement form the organization on Feb. 13.
The Brazilian newspaper Diario da Região reported that city councilman Cesar Gelsi threatened a political reporter for the publication, Rodrigo Lima. The threats followed articles the journalist published calling Gelsi "the living-dead of politics" and included him in a list of officials charged with failing to pay backed taxes.
On Feb. 5, security officers at the Venezuelan National Assembly prevented reporters from privately-owned newspapers from covering an event at the country's legislature in the capital, Caracas, reported the website La Patilla.
After seven months of investigation, police in the Brazilian state of Goiás are closer to solving the killing of sports commentator Valério de Oliveira. Last Friday, Feb. 1, police arrested three suspects for the crime, reported the newspaper Diário da Manhã. The following day, the former deputy chairman of the Goiás Atheletic Club Maurício Sampaio was also arrested for alledgedly ordering the killing.
Press freedom in Brazil was hostage to violence against journalists in 2012. Just days before the end of 2012, another case was announced that illustrated the escalating hostility and threats against reporters.
Reporters for Gazeta da Povo, the newspaper of record in Paraná state, Brazil, were threatened with a supposed attack, according to reports from the publication. On Monday, Dec. 17, the newsroom and the management of the newspaper received threatening telephone calls warning about a possible attack.
The Brazilian government awarded its most prestigious prize for individuals and institutions that stand up for the defense of human rights to a killed journalist. The president's Secretary for Human Rights awarded the 2012 Human Rights Prize posthumously to Tim Lopes, reported the website G1.
A group of reporters from the television network Record sent a letter to the organizers of the Esso Journalism Prize, the highest journalism prize in Brazil, questioning the newspaper Folha de São Paulo's qualification as a finalist.