Guatemalan journalists Jorge Toledo and Norman Rodas, of Channel 2 in the department, or state, of Quiché, had just finished covering a press conference of the Patriotic Party on Saturday, Jan. 15, when they were attacked by persons identified as members of the political party's communications team, reported Cerigua.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) applauded the Jan. 18 legal reform that increased the statute of limitations for crimes against journalists in Colombia -- a change that is considered a step forward in the fight against impunity, reported Vanguardia and Terra.
An investigation by internal affairs of Costa Rica's police force into the police beating of journalists at television channels 6 and 7 could last between two and six months and potentially could lead to officers being fired, reported Notimex and DPA.
A home-made bomb exploded Wednesday at the headquarters of Channel 9 in Asunción, Paraguay, but no one was injured, reported Paraguay.com. The explosive detonated near the station's antenna and left a hole in the wall of the building, according to the newspaper ABC Color.
The mayor of Santa Branca, São Paulo, Odair Leal da Rocha Júnior (PMDB), threatened a crew for the Record TV network that was trying to interview him about alleged corruption in his administration, the station reports. Later that day, the mayor was arrested under suspicion of dealing drugs.
Journalist Carlos Torres, correspondent for Panamerican radio in the city of Sucre, in the south of Bolivia, received anonymous death threats via text message on his cell phone, reported the National Press Association (ANP).
Early in the morning of Jan. 11, an armed group fired shots and threw a grenade at the offices of El Norte newspaper in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Milenio reports. No one was wounded in the attack, but the grenade broke windows and damaged the exterior of the building, El Universal adds.
Attackers threw at least two grenades at the offices of Televisa in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila early in the morning of Jan. 8, El Universal reports.
A crew for RBS TV, an affiliate of TV Globo in the southern state of Santa Catarina, was attacked and threatened Jan. 6 in the city of Indaial, while investigating charges against five business people accused of boycotting wholesalers in the neighboring city of Brusque, Globo reports.
Via YouTube, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has released a series of videos about the impact of violence and the risks journalists confront in the so-called "triple frontier" region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
The president of the government-run National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Raúl Plascencia, said killings, disappearances, and kidnappings of media workers and activists will be a priority for the agency in 2011, Milenio reports.
President Porfirio Lobo’s government has asked for the help of the United States, Colombia, and Spain to help investigate the killings of ten Honduran journalists who died in 2010, El Heraldo reports.