Just one week from presidential elections in Mexico, a Mexican journalist was stabbed on Sunday, June 24, before entering his house in the city of Oaxaca, in the southeastern part of the country, reported the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET in Spanish).
A Mexican official confirmed that journalist Stephania Cardoso is currently under the protection of the federal government, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported Friday, June 22.
With the Venezuelan presidential elections just three months away, attacks against the press and journalists will most likely increase, warned the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). WAN-IFRA visited Venezuela from June 4-6 and found that independent media were polarized and weakened.
A Peruvian journalist was hospitalized after being brutally attacked in the province of Calca, department of Cuzco, after criticizing the local mayor, whom the journalist blamed for the attack, reported the news outlet Enlace Nacional.
A month has passed since a freelance photojournalist from Texas working in Mexico has been heard from, reported the television station Fox 29 of San Antonio the night of Thursday, June 21.
On Wednesday, June 20, two UN Special Rapporteurs called for better protection for journalists during the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, reported the news site Rfi.
A Mexican journalist was reported missing in the central state of San Luis Potosí, according to the news agency Notimex.
Two radio stations were attacked with dynamite in Colquiri, Bolivia, an area rife with protests and conflicts over mining. The attacks left 23 people injured and forced the radio stations to suspend broadcasting from June 14 to 15, reported Reporters Without Borders on Tuesday, June 19. Reporters Without Borders also called for the attacks to be investigated, and for journalists to be better protected.
To mark World Refugee Day on Wednesday, June 20, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its latest report showing 57 journalists were forced into exile between June 1, 2011, and May 31, 2012. Most of the exiled journalists (seven) came from Somalia, and most (15) fled to the United States. More than half (58 percent) went into exile because of the threat of violence, and 46 percent were exiled because of the threat of imprisonment.
In a speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Cuban delegate discredited reports about freedom of expression on the island, reported the newspaper Diario de Cuba.
In Longchamps, located in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a hooded and armed individual attacked a journalist with a belt, robbed his money, and threatened to burn his house down, reported the newspaper La Nueva Provincia.
Authorities in the Mexican state of Veracruz, the most dangerous place in the country for journalists, reported that the criminal cartel Los Zetas claimed responsibility for the killing of a reporter from the newspaper Milenio, Víctor Báez, who was killed June 14, according to Univision.