On Oct. 7, the Brazilian electorate goes to the polls for general elections marked by the intense dissemination of rumors and fraudulent news on social networks, also fomented by the public’s distrust of the press. In this charged political and media environment, journalists have been consistently targeted for doing their investigative and reporting work.
Due to the various attacks against journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and her daughter, María Alejandra Gómez, since 2001, the women presented their case against Colombia before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) this Oct. 1, according to the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish)
A journalist in Ceará in northeastern Brazil was shot in the leg and told to stop talking nonsense on the radio.
Last Friday, Sept. 21, marked three months since radio journalist Jairo de Sousa was killed in Bragança, Pará, in northern Brazil, yet no suspects have been identified.
The public prosecutor's office of Chiapas confirmed the detention of a man in connection with the Sept. 21 murder of Mario Gómez, a reporter for El Heraldo de Chiapas in Mexico who was shot in the town of Yajalón while leaving his home to complete some work, according to the paper where he was employed. The official said announcements about others implicated in the case could be forthcoming.
The outgoing government of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has assigned 75 million Mexican pesos (US $4 million) to the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists and ensured its operation through the end of the year.
Honduran journalists reported being attacked by demonstrators, police officers and military members during demonstrations in Tegucigalpa on the 197th anniversary of independence.
Communicators threatened for doing their work were officially included in the protection program for human rights defenders of Brazil’s Ministry of Human Rights (MDH, for its initials in Portuguese).
Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish) called on the Attorney General and the Ministry of the Interior to promptly investigate recent death threats made against journalists in early September. These threats were made by an alleged paramilitary group Águilas Negras.
Venezuelan journalists work in an environment often characterized by threats, economic precariousness, limited resources and few job opportunities
The association Periodistas Desplazados Mexico (Displaced Journalists Mexico) is asking the new government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to politically and legally recognize journalists and media workers who are victims of forced internal displacement caused by violence in the country in the last decade.
A Venezuelan journalist who previously fled his country because of threats is now in a military prison facing multiple charges rejected by press freedom advocates.