Although Bolivian President Evo Morales accused the press of distorting information on the same day the country celebrated Journalists' Day, on Thursday, May 10, the president said that freedom of the press in the country is "guaranteed" and approved a bill giving journalists life insurance, reported the news agency EFE, the newspaper La Razón, and the radio station FM Bolivia.
Amid Argentine public officials' mounting attacks against the press, the Inter American Press Association asked the Argentine government to "stop harassing and stigmatizing journalists,” reported the news agency Los Andes. The call comes as two more Argentine journalists were victims of officials' anti-press attitudes.
A journalist was surprised when he found a dynamite stick on his apartment's balcony in the city of Matozinhos in the state of Minas Gerais, on Saturday, May 5, reported the newspaper Estado de Minas. Oswaldo Mesquita, news site editor for Informatoz, was at his home with his wife, two kids, and other family members. There was no explosion, reported the news site G1.
A journalist from the most influential Honduran radio station was kidnapped in the capital of Tegucigalpa, early in the morning of Wednesday, May 9, reported the newspaper La Prensa.
The former president of the Brazilian city council of Curitiba (Paraná), João Carlos Derosso, threw a humor journalist's microphone out the window of a four-story building on Tuesday, May 8, reported the newspaper Gazeta do Povo. Journalist Maurício Meirelles is from the TV program Custe o que Custar on the CQC station.
Another Mexican news outlet was the target of an attack on Monday, May 7. This time the shooting was against the newspaper Hora Cero in the city of Reynosa, on the Texas border, according to the newspaper Vanguardia.
A new report from the Office of Journalist Human Rights of the National Journalists Association of Peru (ANP in Spanish) shows 49 attacks against journalists recorded in Peru during the first months of 2012. Most assaults were done by public officials (17), followed by civilians (16), non-identified attackers (11), news outlet owners/managers (4), and police/military (1). Among the assaulted journalists, 12 of them were women, according to the report.
The Honduran press has been victim to several recent attacks. Two journalists survived armed attacks and another received death threats, said the organization C-Libre.
An Argentine journalist was brutally beaten to death by unknown men that entered his house in Neuquén, reported the radio station Cadena 3. The journalist was found dead on Sunday, April 29.
In a statement given to journalists, one of the guerrilla members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC in Spanish) confirmed that the FARC is holding French journalist Roméo Langlois as a war prisoner, reported the radio station Radio Caracol.
A Brazilian police reporter's house was attacked by gunfire in the wee morning hours of Saturday, April 28, in the city of João Pessoa, capital of the state of Paraíba, reported the portal Uol.
The killing of a Mexican crime reporter in the eastern state of Veracruz sparked outrage and protests as the public demanded a thorough investigation and punishment for those responsible.