Brazilian Rep. Márcio Reinaldo Moreira slapped a reporter from the TV program Custe o que Custar (CQC) in the face, the night of Tuesday, May 8, in Brasilia, reported the portal UOL. Reporter Felipe Andreoli, victim of the attack, was interviewing the representative about the proposed constitutional amendment on slave work in Brazil and asked the politician if he didn't think it was unfair for the people to have to wait so long for such proposal to be voted on, according to the news site R7.
On Thursday, May 10, an appeals court ruled on the killing of Peruvian journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández in 2004 and absolved former Mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta of Coronel Portillo and former City Manager Zolio Ramírez Garay who were accused of being the masterminds behind the crime, reported the Press and Society Institute.
Although Bolivian President Evo Morales accused the press of distorting information on the same day the country celebrated Journalists' Day, on Thursday, May 10, the president said that freedom of the press in the country is "guaranteed" and approved a bill giving journalists life insurance, reported the news agency EFE, the newspaper La Razón, and the radio station FM Bolivia.
Amid Argentine public officials' mounting attacks against the press, the Inter American Press Association asked the Argentine government to "stop harassing and stigmatizing journalists,” reported the news agency Los Andes. The call comes as two more Argentine journalists were victims of officials' anti-press attitudes.
A journalist was surprised when he found a dynamite stick on his apartment's balcony in the city of Matozinhos in the state of Minas Gerais, on Saturday, May 5, reported the newspaper Estado de Minas. Oswaldo Mesquita, news site editor for Informatoz, was at his home with his wife, two kids, and other family members. There was no explosion, reported the news site G1.
According to Peruvian police, the mayor of Comandante Noel, Marco Rivero Huerta, is the mastermind behind the killing of journalist Pedro Flores Silva who was killed in September 2011 in Casma, reported the newspaper La República.
In addition to the kidnapping of Honduran journalist Alfredo Villatoro, five other Honduran journalists reported death threats in San Pedro Sula during 2012 so far, reported the newspaper La Prensa.
A journalist from the most influential Honduran radio station was kidnapped in the capital of Tegucigalpa, early in the morning of Wednesday, May 9, reported the newspaper La Prensa.
The former president of the Brazilian city council of Curitiba (Paraná), João Carlos Derosso, threw a humor journalist's microphone out the window of a four-story building on Tuesday, May 8, reported the newspaper Gazeta do Povo. Journalist Maurício Meirelles is from the TV program Custe o que Custar on the CQC station.
A Honduran journalist and gay activist was found dead on Monday, May 7, after having been reported missing for two days, according to the BBC. Journalist Erick Martínez Ávila was a spokesperson for the group Kulkulcán, which represents the rights of homosexuals in Honduras. He was also a Congressional candidate for the National Resistance Front party, which was created by followers of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, reported the news agency EFE.
Another Mexican news outlet was the target of an attack on Monday, May 7. This time the shooting was against the newspaper Hora Cero in the city of Reynosa, on the Texas border, according to the newspaper Vanguardia.
On Monday, May 7, in an article published by the Argentine newspaper Clarin, journalist Daniel Santoro said that he was victim of a plot to discredit him created by the Argentine Intelligence Agency (SIDE in Spanish).