Four former officials of the now defunct Department of Administrative Security (DAS) in Colombia were called for questioning by the Attorney General’s Office as part of its investigation of the threats and psychological torture of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque, according to newspaper El Espectador. [Read a brief explanation of the scandal below]
Police have detained a man allegedly involved in the murder of Mexican journalist Anabel Flores Salazar whose murder authorities said was motivated by her work as a journalist.
Honduran journalist Félix Molina who was attacked twice in one day on May 2 has said he is considering leaving the country.
On April 22, 2016, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights received a complaint against the Brazilian State for the 1975 death of journalist Vladimir Herzog during the country’s military dictatorship. According to the newspaper O Globo, "the Federal Attorney General has already been notified" and the Court must now hear from those involved to decide whether to accept the complaint.
On April 30 in Mexico City, Federal Police arrested a man suspected of murdering Moisés Dagdug Lutzow, Mexican media businessman and former federal congressman. Dagdug was stabbed to death at his home in Villahermosa, Tabasco on Feb. 20, according to news site Animal Político.
Journalist Francisco Pacheco Beltrán, correspondent of El Sol de Acapulco and radio station Capital Maxima 97.1FM, was killed on April 25 in front of his house in Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero state, in Mexico. He is the fifth journalist murdered this year in the country.
After the killing of a blogger in Maranhão, freedom of expression nonprofit organization Article 19 Brazil has called on federal and state authorities to respond to violence against journalists in that state.
On April 13, a Brazilian court sentenced Marcos Bruno Silva de Oliveira to 18 years in prison for involvement in the 2012 murder of journalist Décio Sá. This is Oliveira’s second trial; he appealed the first sentenced and had it annulled.
Depicting a funeral march, dozens of Honduran journalists marched with at least 60 symbolic coffins to the public prosecutor’s office in Tegucigalpa to demand justice for the deaths of journalists that have occurred in the country in recent years, reported newspaper El Heraldo.
Journaist Ivan Pereira Costa was shot outside his home in Cujubim, Rondônia, in northwestern Brazil. His wife, journalist Ediléia Santos Silva, told G1 that the attempted murder may be related to her husband's work.
Matías Avelino Castro of the Dominican Republic, alleged mastermind behind the murder of Dominican journalist José Agustín Silvestre in 2011, was arrested on April 3 in Bogotá, Colombia, reported Colonel Juan Carlos Gómez, chief of Interpol Colombia, according to AFP.
A Brazilian radio host survived what police said was an attempt on his life motivated by his reports on illegal activity. Jair Pereira Teixeira, 45, was shot three times on March 27 in Forquilha in the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil.