In Colombia, civil society has made a series of appeals to the State to stop the wave of attacks and threats against journalists and social leaders that has been taking place with increasing intensity over the last four years, according to the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish).
The regions of Cauca and Valle del Cauca recently saw the loss of two journalists in less than 24 hours early this month. Although neither had previously reported any threats, their deaths occur at a time of increasing violence against the press.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee issued a decision recognizing the violation of different human rights of journalist Lydia Cacho by the Mexican State after her arbitrary detention in 2005.
A Colombian court found the State responsible for not protecting the right to life of Edison Alberto Molina Carmona, a lawyer and radio journalist in Antioquia who was killed in 2013.
Rubén Pat Caiuch, director of Semanario Playa News, was shot and killed in the early morning of July 24 outside a bar in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo.
When at least seven journalists were threatened in less than a week, alarms rang in the country. The victims of these threats have recognized careers in the country, and in some cases they have been victims of other attacks in the past.
The Attorney General’s Office of Ecuador announced the capture of “Cherry,” who they said is the alleged material author of the abduction of the journalistic team from Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio.
This is the second case of the Tim Lopes Program for the Protection of Journalists since Abraji launched the initiative in September 2017 to investigate murders, assassination attempts and abductions of media professionals and to continue the reports interrupted by the killers.
Colombian authorities announced the capture of the alleged fourth in command for the Oliver Sinisterra Front who they said was responsible for the custody of the Ecuadorian journalists who were abducted in March, and later killed.
A photojournalist from newspaper Reforma, Alejandro Mendoza, and Azteca News reporter Isidro Corro said they were assaulted by agents of the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) during the early morning hours of July 8 while covering a police operation in Colonia Doctores, in Mexico City, according to El Universal.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Brazil for its negligence in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing those guilty of torture and murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog in 1975, in the context of the country's military dictatorship.
Police reporter José Guadalupe Chan Dzib was shot and killed at a bar in the state of Quintana Roo just ahead of general elections in Mexico.