In Brazil, a country with a history of impunity concerning crimes against journalists, a man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the 2013 murder of journalist Rodrigo Neto, reporter for newspaper Vale do Aço, in Minas Gerais.
Radio journalist Bernardo Javier Cano Torres of Iguala has been released after being held by kidnappers for 20 days, according to local media reports.
Police found the tortured body of Djalma Santos da Conceição, a 53-year-old journalist for community radio station RCA FM in the state of Bahia, on May 23, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Authorities in Paraguay have sent Brazil a formal request for the extradition of the man accused of being the mastermind behind the murder of journalist Pablo Medina on Oct.16, 2014.
In Brazil and Mexico, ranked seventh and eleventh by the Committee to Protect Journalists as the countries with the highest levels of impunity in the murder of journalists, two advocacy groups are mapping these attacks in an effort to increase their security.
Despite the comments of a senior Peruvian police official who said the killing of 22-year-old Lima reporter Fernando Raymondi was not motivated by his coverage of organized crime, drug trafficking and corruption, local journalists and international press freedom advocates continue to call for a thorough investigation of the shooting.
Impunity in the murder of journalists is not new in Latin America. In the last decade, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported 72 instances of journalists killed for their work. About 78 percent of these cases faced complete or partial impunity. But in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, levels of impunity have surpassed those of any other Latin American country, according to CPJ’s 2014 Global Impunity Index.
A new report by Freedom of Expression advocacy organization Article 19-Mexico attributed a continuing trend of attacks against journalists to the Mexican government’s routine failure to prosecute attackers.
Mexican journalists in Veracruz and other groups marched on Monday, April 28, to commemorate reporter Regina Martínez, who was killed two years ago on the same day, according to Proceso magazine.
In their presentation before the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned that most of the 18 killings of journalists committed in 2013 continue to go unpunished.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) renewed its call for justice on the 16th anniversary of the murder of Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal. IAPA once again insisted that authorities investigate and prosecute the crime, a request the organization has made since the case was opened in 2001.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked Peru’s Supreme Court to clear up the murder of radio journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández and to bring those who ordered the crime to justice.