In the final days of March 2017, several journalists were assaulted during anti-government protests in Venezuela, but recent attacks on journalists in this country have not been exclusively physical. Earlier in the month, a series of cyberattacks forced several Venezuelan independent media outlets to temporarily shut down their websites.
The protests and the crises that followed the decision of the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) to suspend the powers of the National Assembly on Wednesday, March 29, have once again left the press in its most vulnerable position: security forces have assaulted reporters covering the protests, according to reports.
The controversial Peruvian bill that seeks to regulate who can hold management positions in media outlets was withdrawn. However, the authors of the project, the congress members of the party Fuerza Popular, Úrsula Letona and Alejandra Aramayo, proposed a new version, La República reported.
The Forum for Argentine Journalism (Fopea) recently presented the report Monitoring Freedom of Expression 2016, in which it recorded and analyzed the 65 direct attacks and aggressions the Argentine press suffered during the year.
A Mexican police reporter who reported having received threats from organized crime was killed in the state of Guerrero on March 2.
Cuban journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro was declared free of charges after being accused of enemy propaganda and being held for almost two days.
Despite the fact that the security of journalists has become a matter of concern for international organizations such as the UN, which even proclaimed a day to encourage the fight against impunity in crimes against journalists, the statistics attacks against these professionals do not appear to be decreasing.
Mexican journalist and researcher Sergio Aguayo received the first of two psychological evaluations ordered by the judge in a case against him, after being sued by the former governor of the state of Coahuila de Zaragoza, Humberto Moreira.
Journalists who make justifications for hate or incite terrorism publicly or through media could receive punishments of between four and eight years in prison, according to a recent reform to the antiterrorism law approved by the National Congress of Honduras.
Cuban journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro has been accused of the crime of enemy propaganda after being arrested on his way to cover a ceremony in remembrance of a late opposition politician, according to the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).
Although the number of murders of Brazilian journalists has dropped to only two cases in 2016, violations against the press have manifested in other ways. The annual report from the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert) reported that, compared to 2015, last year saw a 65.5 percent increase in cases of violations to freedom of expression.
In Honduras, journalist Jairo López accused the president of the National Congress, Mauricio Oliva, of organizing a smear campaign against him through social networks, Tiempo Digital reported.