The mid-year meeting of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), which took place from April 8 to 11 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, concluded discussions renewing its support for press freedom and condemning the continuing violence suffered by journalists on the continent.
Documents obtained by judicial order show that the company JBS, one of the largest food company in the world, and another company contracted by it in 2015 sponsored a smear campaign against Brazilian journalist and founder of the nonprofit organization Reporter Brazil, Leonardo Sakamoto. The information was published by Folha de S. Paulo on April 8.
Since Operation Car Wash began in March 2014, it has dominated the political agenda in Brazil. Considered by the Federal Police as the biggest corruption investigation ever undertaken in the country, its coverage is a challenge even for experienced journalists, like the editor in chief of Época magazine, Diego Escosteguy.
Journaist Ivan Pereira Costa was shot outside his home in Cujubim, Rondônia, in northwestern Brazil. His wife, journalist Ediléia Santos Silva, told G1 that the attempted murder may be related to her husband's work.
No interviews from public officials or access to press conferences, a duopoly of TV stations and most radio stations, and a law of access to public information that is not fulfilled: this is what fills the days of independent journalists in Nicaragua.
Businessman Ronan Maria Pinto, owner of São Paulo newspaper Diário do Grande ABC, was arrested on April 1 as part of Operation Car Wash, an investigation into corruption in the Brazilian government and various companies. The investigation has fueled a political crisis in Brazil that reaches the top levels of government.
Matías Avelino Castro of the Dominican Republic, alleged mastermind behind the murder of Dominican journalist José Agustín Silvestre in 2011, was arrested on April 3 in Bogotá, Colombia, reported Colonel Juan Carlos Gómez, chief of Interpol Colombia, according to AFP.
The director of Complejo Editorial Alfredo Maneiro (CEAM for its initials in Spanish), the Venezuelan state enterprise in charge of selling newsprint to print media outlets in the country, was sued for what the complainants said is the discriminatory allocation of newsprint paper that caused newspaper El Carabobeño newspaper to end its print edition, according to information from the NGO Espacio Público.
Nearly 100 journalists from 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean worked on the global investigation known as the Panama Papers that is making headlines across the world this week.
A Brazilian radio host survived what police said was an attempt on his life motivated by his reports on illegal activity. Jair Pereira Teixeira, 45, was shot three times on March 27 in Forquilha in the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil.
Mexican authorities announced the arrest of former director of the Municipal Police of Silao (in Guanajuato state), Nicasio Aguirre Guerreros, who is accused of ordering the 2014 attack against journalist journalist Karla Janeth Silva Guerrero, according to El Universal.
Joining the ranks of anonymous whistleblower platforms that have emerged around the world in recent years, eight media and nonprofit organizations have launched an online platform enabling Peruvian citizens to leak information to journalists.