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.
A retired police general was called to testify about the kidnapping and sexual abuse of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya in 2000, reported the Associated Press (AP).
Cameraman Alejandro Márquez was shot in the leg May 10, 2011, during violent disturbances in the city of Medellín, Colombia, Caracol Radio reports.
Approximately 40 journalists from different media outlets in the Pacific port city of Buenaventura walked out of their workplaces on May 9, 2011 to protest threats and violence faced by reporters in the region, El País reports.
Colombian journalist Gonzalo Guillén’s computer and a hard disk with more than 15 years of work were stolen from his home in Bogotá towards the end of April, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) reports.
On May 3, media workers all over Latin American used World Press Freedom Day to denounce violence against reporters and media outlets and to demand protection, as new reports showed that the region has become one the most dangerous in the world to practice journalism. Press Freedom Day was also marred by the news that two journalists, one in Brazil and another in Peru, were shot to death in separate incidents.
Award-winning Colombian journalist Hollman Morris has launched a social media campaign to keep Contravía, his investigative reporting program, on the air. He has asked viewers and his followers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to make small donations to support the show, Semana explains.
Several digital media outlets have begun a campaign in support of Colombian journalist Joaquín Pérez Becerra, a Swedish citizen who was extradited from Venezuela to Bogotá for alleged ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.