The Brazilian journalist Mauro König, of the Paraná-based newspaper Gazeta do Povo, left the country after receiving several threats that followed the publication of several investigative articles on the state police.
Guatemalan journalist Héctor Cordero is known for three things: for being the only full-time journalist covering the department of El Quiché for a national TV newscast, for his relentless reports on corruption and abuse of authority, and for regularly angering public officials in the region. In the current struggle over political power in El Quiché, Cordero has become an extremely bothersome figure for the department's ruling class.
Press freedom in Brazil was hostage to violence against journalists in 2012. Just days before the end of 2012, another case was announced that illustrated the escalating hostility and threats against reporters.
Journalists have not escaped the violence that has dominated life in Colombia over the last several years. According to statistics from the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish), 160 reporters were victims of some kind of threat, violence, illegal detention or killing in 2011.
n Argentine journalist said he should be admitted to a hospital after breathing an airborne pesticide fumigated in a field 50 meters outside the town center of Alberti, Buenos Aires province, reported the newspaper Hoy.
A photographer in the Brazilian state of Roraima alleged the head of the state's military police attacked him and ejected him from a government event on Dec. 23, 2012, reported the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
Reporter Mauri König was advised to leave Brazil due to threats he received after publishing accusations against the police in Paraná state, reported the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) admitted the case of murdered Colombian journalist Hernando Rangel Moreno, reported the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) in a press release on its website on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012.
In a request for protection, Chilean journalist Mauricio Weibel said he was not the only one facing intimidation for his investigations into the country’s military dictatorship.
Reporters for Gazeta da Povo, the newspaper of record in Paraná state, Brazil, were threatened with a supposed attack, according to reports from the publication. On Monday, Dec. 17, the newsroom and the management of the newspaper received threatening telephone calls warning about a possible attack.
Journalists unions in Bolivia rejected the Life and Disability Insurance Law for Press Workers enacted by President Evo Morales on Monday, Dec. 10, reported the website Los Tiempos. The proposed insurance would be paid for with one percent of the monthly total gross revenue of public and private media organizations and managed by a board with majority State representation, added the website.
The anti-censorship website from Reporters Without Borders, We Fight Censorship, recently highlighted the case of Cuban journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, who was jailed in September, 2012, by authorities after he published a series of articles about a health crisis on the island. The website published the articles that led to his arrest and two telephone conversations offering a rare look into the prison's harsh conditions from the inside.