The number of cases of violence against journalists in Brazil increased in 2015, according to a recently released annual report from the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj). According to the text, 137 incidents against media professionals were reported last year — eight more than in 2014.
A Colombian court has sentenced a man to prison for the August 2014 killing of journalist Luis Carlos Cervantes in Tarazá, Antioquia department.
Venezuelan authorities are working to determine the motive behind the killing of journalist and government press officer Ricardo Durán.
In a violent action carried out by the military police to disperse protesters in São Paulo during a demonstration against increased transportation fares held on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at least nine media professionals were wounded, according to Abraji (the Brazilian Association for Investigative Journalism).
A man accused of murdering Paraguayan journalist Pablo Medina has been detained in southern Brazil.
Mexican journalist Jorge Martínez Castañeda was hospitalized after being brutally beaten while walking with his grandson in the main square of Tacámbaro, in Michoacán state, on Jan. 6.
Deadly violence against journalists in Latin America has continued to grow this year, with four countries from the region making the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) list of deadliest countries for journalists in 2015.
“The Mexican government doesn’t care about the journalists,” investigative journalist Anabel Hernández recently told the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
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.