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.
Edgar Astudillo Vásquez, producer of a news program on Radio Panzenú, received a pamphlet—allegedly from a paramilitary group—that said he would be killed before April 20 in any street in his city of Montería in Córdoba Department, El Tiempo and El Heraldo report.
On a week of nonstop aggressions and attacks against journalists in Latin America, this news post from journalist Martin Angel Tax alerts us to the shooting Thursday evening of Luis Felipe Valenzuela, director of the Emisoras Unidas radio network.
Ramón Ángeles Zalpa, a correspondent for Cambio de Michoacán newspaper, was last seen Tuesday, April 6, when he left his home for a local university where he is also a professor, Article 19 reports.
José Carlos Stachowiak, host of a police program on cable TV in Ponta Grossa, Paraná, made grave threats on the air against a journalism student who wrote a blog post criticizing his work. See the video in this post Querido Leitor (Dear Reader), by local journalist Rosana Hermann.
Security Minister Óscar Álvarez offered $5,200 for information that helps to capture the killers of five journalists and other crimes against prosecutors, judges, and attorneys, La Tribuna reports.
Two suspects, ages 19 and 20, were arrested in Caleta Olivia, in Santa Cruz province, accused of setting fire to journalist Adela Gómez's car last week, Clarín reports. However, a judge released them because of inconsistent evidence against them.
José Alemán, a correspondent for Tiempo newspaper and Radio América, decided to leave the country after two armed men broke into his home and fired their guns in his bedroom last Sunday in the town of San Marcos, Ocotepeque, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.
Evaristo Pacheco Solís, a reporter for the weekly “Visión Informativa” (Informative Vision), was found shot to death Friday near the state capital, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, in southern Mexico, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.