A Colombian journalist received a threatening phone call with the sounds of automatic weapons being fired while music played in the background, reported Reporters Without Borders.
Of the 67 killings and 14 disappearances of journalists in Mexico since 2006, in only one case have the perpetrators been brought to justice, according to a special prosecutor testifying before a Congressional panel in Mexico City.
Gotson Pierre, founder of Alterpresse in Haiti, told the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas that journalists in the Dominican Republic and Haiti are facing serious, recent threats against freedom of expression.
An ex-police officer accused of killing a Brazilian journalist in 1989 was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Tuesday, July 10, reported the newspaper Folha Vitória.
In one day, on Tuesday, July 10, three Mexican news outlets were attacked with explosives, reported the freedom of expression organization Article 19.
A Colombian radio journalist was hit in the face while trying to report about citizen complaints in the tax office of the Gobernación de Bolívar in Cartagena, Colombia, reported the newspaper El Universal.
In Veracruz, the Mexican state where nine journalists have been brutally killed in 18 months, state legislators approved the creation of the State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists, according to the newspaper El Universal.
The Brazilian government told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States that it will not reopen the case of the killing of reporter Vladimir Herzog for further investigation due to the amnesty law, reported the G1 on Thursday, June 21.
About 25 international organizations that advocate for freedom of expression, as well as more than 50 journalists and news media outlets, many of whom participated in the 10th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas, signed a petition urging state authorities of Veracruz, as well as the Mexican federal government, to protect the safety of journalists and to solve the nine killings of Veracruz reporters in the last 18 months. The petition was published on Monday, June 18, four days after the killing of reporter Víctor Báez, who was found on Thursday, June 14, in the capital of Veracruz.
International organizations expressed concern about the Mexican journalist and her son who went missing on Friday, June 8, in the city of Saltillo, in northern Mexico, and demanded that authorities find the missing journalist.
Another journalist was killed in Veracruz, México; his body was found inside of plastic bags in the early morning of Thursday, June 14, in the city of Xalapa, reported the Associated Process and the weekly Proceso. The search started the night before after the journalist was kidnapped while leaving his office, according to Reuters. It is believed that the journalist was probably a victim of organized crime, reported the newspaper El Economista.
Mexican state legislators approved a constitutional reform that will allow federal authorities to investigate crimes against journalists, reported the newspaper La Jornada on Thursday, June 7. In March, the Senate approved a proposal to make crimes against journalists federal jurisdiction, which before were dealt with locally. But, because this was a constitutional reform, the new measure also required the approval of the majority of the 31 Mexican state legislators.