Mexican state legislators approved a constitutional reform that will allow federal authorities to investigate crimes against journalists, reported the newspaper La Jornada on Thursday, June 7. In March, the Senate approved a proposal to make crimes against journalists federal jurisdiction, which before were dealt with locally. But, because this was a constitutional reform, the new measure also required the approval of the majority of the 31 Mexican state legislators.
A Mexican police reporter and her son went missing the early morning of June 8, reported the newspaper Milenio.
On Wednesday, June 6, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP in Spanish) reported the temporary kidnapping and attacks that a Peruvian journalist suffered on May 27 by a large group of protesters against the Swiss mining company Xstrata in the province of Espinar, in Cuzco, reported the news agency EFE.
A Guatemalan TV reporter was injured while covering the eviction of university student protesters, reported the news agency AFP.
Armed individuals opened fire against the headquarters of a newspaper in the state of Zulia, in northeast Venezuela, on the night of Sunday, June 3, reported La Nación. This is the third attack in one week against news media outlets in the region.
On Tuesday, June 5, Argentine journalists were attacked by a gang that identifies itself as supporters of Governor Jesús Cariglino while they were trying to cover an alleged malpractice case in the city hospital of Pablo Nogués in Malvinas Argentinas of the province of Buenos Aires, reported the newspaper La Voz.
A Colombian activist and journalist said that a "narco-paramilitary" team plans to kill him as soon as possible and will pay $200,000 for it to happen, reported the news agency EFE.
A Venezuelan reporter from the newspaper El Universal filed a complaint with the Venezuelan Public Ministry, on Monday, June 4, after receiving a threat for publishing reports about recent conflicts in the prison La Planta, in Caracas, reported El Impulso.
A team of reporters was attacked during a demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while trying to cover a "pots and pans" protest in front of the Court Palace the night of Friday, June 1. The incident occurred just 10 days after the same reporting team was attacked by another group of protesters in the same place, reported the Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities.
Six years after U.S. Indymedia cameraman Brad Will was shot to death in Oaxaca, Mexico, Mexican authorities have announced the arrest of a former public education employee, Lenin Osorio Ortega, charged with killing Will, reported Milenio. Still, media monitoring groups like Reporters Without Borders remain suspicious about who really killed Will, who was shot while covering a Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) protest on Oct. 27, 2006.
The headquarters of the Venezuelan newspaper Qué Pasa was attacked with a grenade on May 28. No one was hurt during the attack, however the building suffered damages, reported the news site Clases de Periodismo, on Monday, June 4.
According to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish), between Wednesday, May 30 and Thursday May 31, a wave of journalists were attacked and threatened all across Peru,the majority of them while they were trying to cover different protests throughout the country.