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.
Six years after U.S. Indymedia cameraman Brad Will was shot to death in Oaxaca, Mexico, Mexican authorities have announced the arrest of a former public education employee, Lenin Osorio Ortega, charged with killing Will, reported Milenio. Still, media monitoring groups like Reporters Without Borders remain suspicious about who really killed Will, who was shot while covering a Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) protest on Oct. 27, 2006.
Outraged by the killing of 22 journalists in Honduras since January 2010, communication workers from this country marched to protest the impunity of crimes against journalists and to demand protection of freedom of expression on Friday, May 25, Day of the Journalist in Honduras, reported the newspaper Proceso.
Beyond recognizing the serious crisis of safety and security for journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean, the 10th annual Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas, held May 20-22 in Austin, Texas, served as a platform to launch ideas about how to solve the problem of insecurity. The largest ever Forum, with more than 70 participants representing the Caribbean and most countries in the Americas, was themed "Safety and Protection for Journalists, Bloggers, and Citizen Journalists."