The Agencia de Noticias Fides (ANF) reports its news editor, David Niño de Guzmán, was found dead in an empty lot in La Paz on Thursday, April 21, with his stomach destroyed by a dynamite explosion.
The office of Colombia’s Attorney General announced that it would no longer investigate the deaths of El Espectador journalists Julio Daniel Chaparro and Jorge Enrique Torres, who were killed 20 years ago while investigating a massacre, El Tiempo reports.
Colombian journalists nationwide plan to take to the streets May 3 for a “march of silence” against the growing wave of threats by paramilitary groups against journalists and human rights groups, El Espectador and CM& report.
The director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, condemned the April 9 killing of Brazilian journalist Luciano Leitão Pedrosa.
Press freedom activists have asked the Colombian attorney general to classify the 1991 deaths of two journalists investigating a massacre as crimes against humanity, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) reports via IFEX.
In the face of the threats and dangers journalists confront as increasing violence rocks Mexico, various initiatives have emerged as part of an effort to help protect reporters: group coverage so no one journalist can be singled out, bullet-proof vests, and even self censorship. The most recent protection measure is an accord with guidelines specifying how to cover the drug war.
Luciano Leitão Pedrosa was killed the night of April 9 in a restaurant in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, G1 reports. The journalist worked for Radio Metropolitana FM and hosted the program Action and Citizenship on TV Victoria, where he discussed criminal allegations and police issues.
The state of freedom of expression has deteriorated throughout the Americas, concluded delegates at the Mid-Year meeting of the Inter American Press Association, held April 6-9 in San Diego, Ca.
The newest edition of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America, is dedicated to journalism in the Americas, with stories by renowned journalists focusing on such topics as the dangers of reporting in Mexico, the possibilities of incorporating new digital technologies, censorship and threats to freedom of expression.
Continuing the wave of threats by paramilitary groups against Colombian journalists, a new pamphlet targets 11 community radio stations affiliated with the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council and 11 journalists from diverse media outlets, Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports.
Venezuela’s National Journalism Guild (CNP) condemned an attack against a press team with the Primero Justicia opposition political party by 40 people carrying state oil company identification, El Nacional reports.
Journalists from violent Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and from Managua, Nicaragua, report being attacked by police while performing their journalistic duties.