Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports that it has received a copy of a new set of threats against journalists and human rights activists in Colombia from the Black Eagles paramilitary group, which for the last five years has engaged in acts of violence and intimidation against the press.
A journalist and a cameraman for the news show CM& on Colombia’s TV Canal 1 were attacked with rocks and sticks by people living in a mining zone in northeastern Colombia, while seeking interviews with locals about a Canadian mining company's decision to postpone a project, El Tiempo reports.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appointed Brazilian journalist Elisabeth Costa as its new secretary general. Costa, whom the IFJ describes as a “veteran campaigner for union rights and press freedom in Latin America,” will be the first woman and non-European to hold the post.
The Carabobo state division of Venezuela’s National Journalism Guild (CNP) announced plans to protest the decision by the national telecom agency (CONATEL) to close Carabobo Stereo radio station last week.
Several studies launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in association with the Ford Foundation, discuss the regulation of Brazilian media, reported Agência Brasil. According to UNESCO, the objective is to contribute to the debate about the role of communications in the strengthening of democracy.
President Rafael Correa has initiated a lawsuit against two journalists who published a book alleging corrupt dealings that benefited the leader’s older brother, El Diario reports. According to La Hora, the suit is for $10 million.
A provincial prosecutor in Peru wants four years in prison for Aurora Burgos, the owner of the award-winning, low frequency radio station La Voz de Bagua, for “aggravated theft of the radio spectrum,” the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports via IFEX.
The Honduran government told the U.N. that it would implement measures to improve the state of free expression and protect press workers from the wave of violence that has affected the country, El Heraldo reports.
Candidates for Peru’s April 10 election have signed an agreement to guarantee access to public information, promote administrative transparency, and protect freedom of information if they are elected, the RPP radio network reports.
Former President Jimmy Carter, met in Havana Wednesday, March 30, with independent bloggers and other Cuban dissidents during the third and final day of his visit to the island in an effort to help to improve decades of tense relations between the United States and Cuba, the BBC and Reuters report.
The killing of journalist Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, editor general of Zeta weekly, was allegedly ordered by Javier Arellano Félix, then leader of the Tijuana Cartel, the gang that controls the drug trade between the Mexican border city of the same name and the United States, the Committee Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
In recognition of the World Day against Cyber-Censorship, held March 12, the organization Reporters Without Borders gave out its annual award for online media and released a new list of countries named as "Internet enemies," including Cuba, reported the Associated Press and Telegraf.