The International Press Institute (IPI) announced that 12 Latin American journalists received death threats in the last month. The grim practice has become disturbingly common in countries like Honduras and Peru, where the highest number of cases originated.
Out of the 85 total journalists killed in the world over the last 10 months, 35 were in Latin America. The report named Latin America the world's most dangerous region for journalists, isolating Mexico as the single most dangerous country, according to the number of deaths in 2011.
IPI is "concerned that the list could grow because of the number of journalists affected by death threats and because organized crime remains endemic in the region."
An international network of editors and media owners based in Vienna, Austria, IPI also stated that the principle enemies of the press are governments and organized crime.
This year, the Knight Center blog Journalism in the Americas reported several cases of death threats. Among them, the Colombian journalist Mary Luz Avendaño and Silvia González from Nicaragua who were forced to abandon their respective countries.
For more on this story, see this extensive list of threatened journalists:
Paraguay: Carlos Bottino and other journalists threatened by the Paraguayan military.
Honduras: Edgardo Antonio Escoto, Carlos Alberto Medina Polanco, Amando López, Mario Rolando Suazo, Pedro Canales, Ethel Corea, and Lisandro Mauricio Arias Avilés.
El Salvador: journalists from Radio Victoria.
Peru: Kety Vela, Segundo Alvines, Braulio Rojas, Javier Poma Sotelo, Humberto Espinoza Maguiña, Jaime Quispe, Lenin Quevedo, Roberto Cacho Uriarte and Cristian Rojas.
Argentina: Mario Sánchez, Gloria Seco and Claudio Ruiz.
Bolivia: Mónica Oblitas.
Nicaragua: Siliva González, Luis Galeano and his colleagues at El Nuevo Diario,
Colombia: Claudia Julieta Duque, Eduardo Márquez, Daniel Coronell, Marcos Perales Mendoza, Hollman Morris, Rodolfo Zambrano and Mary Luz Avendaño
Uruguay: Victor Carrato
Brazil: Niviane Rodrigues, Ricardo Motta, Thiago Correia, and Antuérpio Pettersen Filho.
