Police in Rio de Janeiro arrested a drug leader Sunday who was convicted of taking part in the assassination of TV Globo reporter Tim Lopes in 2002. Eliseu Felicio de Sousa was captured during this weekend's police invasion of the Alemão shantytown complex, the same region where Lopes was killed. The arrest was broadcast on live TV during extensive coverage of the police operations. (See video below of TV Globo's coverage.)
Peasants allegedly armed with assault rifles shot at a photographer for La Prensa newspaper while he was reporting on the military’s efforts to disarm farmers in the Atlantic coast region of Bajo Aguán, Proceso Digital reports.
Brazilian photojournalist Paulo Whitaker, who works for the Reuters news agency, was shot in the left shoulder Friday (Nov. 26) while covering the third day of gun battles in Rio de Janeiro, The Guardian reports. His injury was not life-threatening, and he was recovering quickly, Reuters says.
At least four journalists have disappeared in the Mexican state of Michoacán since 2006 - an epicenter of the government’s offensive against drug trafficking - and there have not been any concrete developments in the investigations by the federal and state authorities, Reporters without Borders (RWB) reports.
Thirty years after Guatemalan journalist, writer and activist Alaíde Foppa was kidnapped, her family and journalism and human rights organizations on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, went before Guatemala's Supreme Court to demand authorities investigate what happened to Foppa, according to IFEX. The family presented a statement to the court to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25.
The Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression initiated preliminary hearings in federal court for three individuals – two of them police officers – for their alleged role in attempting to kill a journalist, El Universal reports. For safety reasons, the journalist’s name has not been released.
Journalist Roberto Gálvez said he received insulting and threatening phone calls shortly after giving a statement to authorities investigating the shooting death of Mayor Aucayacu Wilder Miranda, reports Inforegión, where Gálvez is a regional correspondent.
A new report from the Fundación MEPI, an independent investigative journalism center, says that the regional press in Mexico cover less than 5 percent of killings, attacks and violence linked to organized crime in the country, and the silence imposed by the cartels has created "black holes of information."
The Chamber of Deputies passed a 2011 federal budget that includes more than $2 million for journalist life insurance, El Universal reports. The funds are set to go towards medical services, funeral costs, and damages.
Journalists in Central America aren't prepared to deal with covering the violence, organized crime and drug trafficking that is moving south from Mexico, said Carlos Dada, editor and founder of El Salvador's digital newspaper El Faro and winner of the 2010 Latin American Studies Association Media Award.
Journalist Rodrigo Sepúlveda of Radio Nihuil in Mendoza, Argentina, was robbed and threatened by three armed men who stole his cell phone and wallet while he was broadcasting live on Tuesday from the La Gloria neighborhood, the newspaper Los Andes reports. Listeners could hear the incident live until the gunmen took the broadcaster's phone and turned it off.
Líbero newspaper’s Gustavo Peralta accused several police officers of “abuse of authority and battery,” La República reports. According to the journalist, the officers broke his arm while he was covering a soccer game on Saturday, Nov. 13.