Independent journalist Luis Eduardo Gómez, a witness for prosecutors' investigation into links between politicians and paramilitaries, was killed by two gunmen who shot him from a motorcycle last week in Arboletes, Antioquia, in northwest Colombia, BBC reports.
Journalist Mary Luz Avendaño, corresponsdent in Medellín, Colombia, for the newspaper El Espectador, and Lydia Cacho, a Mexican investigative reporter, received death threats after publishing stories on drug trafficking and human trafficking, respectively, reported IFEX and Article 19.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has condemned the boycott against a newspaper in Colombia and the attempted raid on a daily in Argentina, which come amidst the growing number of incidents of aggression against the press in Latin America and somber reports about the future of freedom of expression in the region.
The Attorney General of Colombia has accused a former deputy chief of the secret police of instigating the murder of journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón, perpetrated by the paramilitary almost twelve years ago, reported El Heraldo.
The Supreme Court of Colombia ruled on May 25 that criminal defamation is constitutional, prompting criticism from freedom of expression advocates, Article 19 reports via IFEX.
On June 8, less than two weeks after assailants attempted to burn TV director Mario Esteban López alive, he received threats telling him he could be killed if he stayed in the Ecuador-Colombia border city of Ipiales, El Observador reports.
Journalists who have been sexually assaulted in the line of work have been reluctant to step forward for fear of being reassigned, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) revealed June 7 in a new report "The Silencing Crime: Sexual Violence and Journalists."
Journalist Mario Esteban López managed to escape with his life after the matches were too wet for his kidnappers to light the more than two gallons of gasoline they poured on him, EFE reports.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its annual Impunity Index, which ranks three Latin American countries among those where killers of journalist regularly escape justice, The Associated Press reports.
Héctor Rodríguez, the news director for La Veterana radio in the southeastern Colombian city of Popayán, escaped a May 26 attempted shooting unharmed, El País reports.
Veteran journalist Jineth Bedoya, currently an editor for El Tiempo newspaper, has filed a claim against the Colombian government at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for failing to fully investigate the kidnapping and sexual assault she suffered in 2000, The Associated Press reports.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has announced the 2012 class of Nieman Fellows, including Claudia Méndez Arriaza of Guatemala's El Periódico newspaper, and Carlos Eduardo Huertas of Colombia's Revista Semana, according to the Nieman Lab.