Police are investigating the murder of radio host Luiz Manoel Souza, 48, who was killed on Dec. 7 in a rural area of Ubá after being shot by a group of men. The group, at least some of them driving in a truck, first confronted him as he was in his car. The men shot at his car and tires, forcing Souza to flee to a wooded area, which is when he was shot.
A number of Mexican journalists, newspapers and media outlets recently sent a formal declaration to the government of Veracruz denouncing alleged police violence against journalists while they were covering teacher protests on Nov. 21 and 22.
As the end of the year nears, two more journalists were killed in Brazil and Colombia in the past week.
Two people on a motorcycle fatally shot 30-year-old Brazilian blogger Ítalo Eduardo Diniz Barros on Nov. 13 in Governador Nunes Freire in Maranhão state. A friend with Diniz was also shot, but survived, according to G1.
Former mayor Vilmar Acosta arrived in Asunción - Paraguay's capital - Tuesday Nov. 17 after Brazil approved his extradition. He now will have to answer for the murder of journalist Pablo Medina, according to Reuters. The journalist’s assistant, Antonia Almada, was also killed in the attack targeting the reporter.
Early in the morning on Nov. 10, an unidentified man shot community radio journalist Israel Gonçalves Silva inside a store in Lagoa de Itaenga in Pernambuco state. The journalist had just dropped his children at school. Reports say the man fled via motorcycle without taking anything.
Flor Alba Núñez Vargas was only 25-years-old when she was fatally shot on the way to work on Sept. 10, 2015. Despite her youth, she simultaneously worked as a journalist at radio stations, television outlets and newspapers in Pitalito in the Huila department of southwest Colombia.
This has been the deadliest year for the Mexican press since President Enrique Peña Nieto took the presidency in 2012, according to freedom of expression advocacy organization Article 19.
A former deputy police chief accused of ordering the kidnapping and killing of Mexican journalist Moisés Sánchez Cerezo was released from prison after a federal judge granted him amparo, an action to protect an individual’s constitutional rights.
The case of Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal, murdered on April 16, 1998, was submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on October 22 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI), on Nov. 2, was marked by events all over the world. At the United Nations headquarters in New York City, a panel discussion concluded that it is time for the international community to take more concrete actions to protect journalists and prosecute those who commit crimes against them.
Colombian authorities reported the arrest of former legislator and politician Ferney Tapasco for whom it had issued an arrest warrant after he was sentenced for being the mastermind of the murder of journalist Orlando Sierra. The capture by the prosecution and the police took place in the early hours of Nov. 1, according to newspaper La Patria.