As presidential elections in Venezuela approach, President Hugo Chavez on Saturday, March 24, criticized the alleged assaults on journalists of the state-run National System of Public Media committed by supporters of the opposition, according to the website for the Venezuelan National Assembly.
To avoid police aggression, reporters in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, work in groups when covering seizures, arrests and any other crime in this city on the U.S-Mexico border, now considered the second most violent in the world after spending three years in first place. “While one person speaks with officials, others are ready with their cameras to make public any incidents of aggression," explained Alfredo Quijano, editor of the local newspaper Norte, in an interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
An Italian journalist criticized Honduran soldiers for intimidating and threatening foreign press members who were covering the International Gathering for Human Rights, held in the Lower Aguán, a valley in northern Honduras where farm workers seeking to reclaim their lands have suffered repression and abuse, reported the organization C-Libre.
After speaking with the victim's friends and relatives, investigators into the death of Brazilian journalist Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues have found stronger evidence that the reporter was killed because of his journalistic activities, explained the news website Midiamax. Paraguayan reporter Cándido Figueiredo said he was warned by the Brazilian police of a plan to kill the journalist, known as Paulo Rocaro, because of his coverage of drug trafficking on the border between the two nations.
The Mexican newspaper El Buen Tono published images and a video from the armed attack the daily suffered more than three months ago, reported the newspaper Milenio on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
Brazilian journalist Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues was shot to death during an attack the night of Sunday, Feb. 12, in Ponta Porã in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on the border with Paraguay, reported Última Hora. Police suspect it was a hired killing.
Authorities from the Dominican Public Ministry raided the offices of the digital newspaper El Siglo 21 and two residences of journalist Guillermo Gómez on Feb. 10, reported the newspaper El Nacional. Allegedly, José Ángel Gómez Canáan, the journalist's son, participated in a spy network accused of hacking into the e-mail accounts of First Lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernández and several high-ranking bank executives, reported Listín Diario.
Inspired by Colombia's Journalist Day, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish) presented a report expressing its concern over the state of freedom of expression in Colombia. The Colombian Federation of Journalists also released a statement noting that while there were fewer reporters killed in 2011, violence against journalists continues to rise in the Andean country.
With violence, political unrest and impunity increasingly taking hold of Latin America, freedom of expression is constantly being violated in Central American countries, with journalists being threatened, attacked, intimidated, kidnapped, tortured and killed for political, monetary, criminal and ideological motivations.
A reporting crew from the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Notícias was detained by the Bolivarian Militia in a hospital in the capital, Caracas, on Feb. 8, reported the website Clases de Periodismo.
Brazilian political journalist Mário Randolfo Marques Lopes was killed in the early hours of Feb. 9, in the city of Barra do Piraí, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, along with his girlfriend, reported Diário do Vale. Known for criticizing authorities in the region on his website Vassouras na Net (Vassouras Online), Lopes survived an attempt on his life at his home in July of last year.
In the early morning of Feb. 8, a fire destroyed part of the offices of the Brazilian newspaper Folha do Boqueirão in the city of Curitiba, Paraná, reported the website Bonde News.