Prosecutors have charged two people in the kidnapping of Luis Gerardo Núñez, a reporter for the Globovisión TV network who was rescued in Caracas Friday night by police after a ransom was paid, Globovisión and El Carabobeño report. He was abducted for at least 48 hours.
The Inter American Press Association has invited readers of almost 400 papers throughout the Americas to sign a letter to President Porfirio Lobo Sosa asking him to take actions to confront and stop violence against Honduran journalists. Six journalists and one broadcaster have been killed in the country since March 1.
Secretary of Security Óscar Álvarez said authorities were close to solving two of the seven killings of media workers in less than two months (six journalists and one broadcaster), including last week’s shooting of TV journalist Jorge “Georgino” Orellana, La Prensa reports.
President Porfirio Lobo is arranging for Spain and Colombia to help solve the crimes committed in the last two months against six journalists and one radio announcer in Honduras, El Heraldo reports.
The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) has published on its website an interactive map that counts 147 cases of aggression against journalists and threats to freedom of expression in the country in 2009.
Jorge Orellana, known as Georgino, died Tuesday night, April 21, after being shot by a gunman seconds after he walked outside the offices of Canal de Televisión Honduras, where he produced the TV program "En Vivo con Georgino" (Live with Georgino) in San Pedro Sul, El Tiempo reports.
Arsenio Zambrano Ocampo, a well-known independent photographer, died last week after he was stabbed in his home in Ibagué, in Tolima department, the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper) reports. Citizens and colleagues were shocked by the news, El Tiempo says.
María Isabella Cordero, former anchor of the morning news on Televisa, was shot to death Friday night in the city of Chihuahua, while leaving a restaurant parking lot, La Jornada and El Diario report. A friend who was in the car with her was also killed. See EFE's report in English.
Oscar Sánchez Madan was released from prison this week after serving a three-year term for “social dangerousness,” a vague charge he received after covering a local corruption scandal. He tells Radio Martí that he wants to keep writing about current affairs on the island, including Havana’s human rights violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
TV host and radio broadcaster Handson Laércio was shot Wednesday, April 14, while leaving his home in Bacabal, Maranhão, to host his program on TV Mearim, the news portal Imirante reports. On entering his car, Laércio was confronted by his attacker and was shot in the hand.
Mauricio Medina, founder of a community radio station for the Pijao indigenous people, was stabbed more than 20 times at his home Sunday in Ortega, Tolima (central Colombia), Reuters reports (Spanish). See a story in English by Colombia Reports.
Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) condemned the killing of newspaper columnist Enrique Villicaña Palomares and demanded investigation and punishment, La Jornada reports. Villicaña, a commentator for La Voz de Michoacán and former official in MIchoacán state, was found over the weekend in the western Mexican state, EFE and the Associated Press report.