Three Latin American journalists appear on the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) annual census of journalists imprisoned around the world. Guatemalan Jerson Antonio Xitumul Morales, Ecuadoran Enrique Rosales Ortega and Venezuelan Braulio Jatar are three of the 262 journalists imprisoned around the world, according to the census, which was published Dec. 13.
Three journalists reporting at the infamous Tocorón prison in northern Venezuela were released Oct. 8 after being held by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB for its acronym in Spanish) for two days.
Bolivian journalist Yadira Peláez, who accused Carlos Flores, a former manager of state-owned Bolivia TV, of sexual harassment, is being sued for economic damage to BTV in a complaint filed by the channel's management, according to El Deber.
A Brazilian mayor in the state of Minas Gerais has been arrested and accused of being involved in the 2016 death of journalist Maurício Campos Rosa.
Update (Aug. 25): Journalist and activist Carlos Julio Rojas was freed from a Venezuelan military prison on Aug. 24 after spending more than seven weeks in detention. At an Aug. 23 press conference, human rights defenders, journalists and civil society organizations called for international organizations to be allowed to monitor the conditions of political prisoners and specifically mentioned Rojas' case.
Independent Cuban journalist Sol García Basulto, editor of the magazine La Hora de Cuba, will file a formal complaint before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Camagüey against the precautionary measure of house arrest imposed on her July 24.
Chilean journalist and photographer Rafael Mella Latorre recently testified before the Paraguayan justice system as a victim in the criminal trial for torture carried out by the government during the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1980-1989), EFE reported.
Updated (June 26): The Colombian and Dutch governments have confirmed the release of two Dutch journalists being held by the National Liberation Army (ELN for its acronym in Spanish) in northeast Colombia.
"It is a region crossed by armed conflict; in that context, the possibility of temporary deprivation of liberty to persons unknown and from outside the community corresponds to a preventative attitude, of an exercise of protection and security, natural for any insurgent force," the statement said.
Chilean-Venezuelan journalist Braulio Jatar, who has been in jail since Sept. 3, 2016, has been released and is under house arrest.
Mexican journalist Martín Méndez Pineda, who sought political asylum in the U.S., voluntarily returned to Mexico after spending 100 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in French).
Mexican journalist Martín Méndez Pineda (26), who traveled to the United States to seek political asylum because he feared for his life, has been detained for more than 100 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.