The Venezuelan journalism community is rallying for justice for young social communicator Miguel Castillo who was killed during a recent protest in Caracas.
The 33 journalists and media workers murdered in the Americas during 2016 represent an increase in censorship and corruption in the countries of the Americas, according to the annual report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Maximino Rodríguez Palacios, also known as Max Rodríguez, is the fourth journalist killed in Mexico in less than two months.
With 11 journalists killed in Mexico, 2016 became the most violent year for the press since 2000, according to the annual report “Freedoms in Resistance” made by Article 19 Mexico.
Mexican daily newspaper Norte of Ciudad Juárez took down its website Norte Digital on the night of April 4, two days after publishing a farewell editorial in its last printed edition. Both the digital and print versions of the newspaper were closed by director, Óscar Cantú Murguía due to a lack of security for the practice of journalism in the country.
The identification of two of three suspects in the assassination of Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea have been confirmed, said César Augusto Peniche, district attorney general of the state of Chihuahua, according to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
Journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea, 54, was killed on the morning of March 23 after receiving at least four shots to the head. The journalist was leaving her home in the capital city of Chihuahua state and getting into her vehicle when a group of strangers approached her and began shooting, according to newspaper Norte in Ciudad Juárez.
Another journalist has been killed in Veracruz, Mexico.
Peruvian journalist and audiovisual producer José Yactayo, who disappeared on Feb. 25, was killed and dismembered, the Peruvian National Police said on March 2 after confirming the identity of human remains found in a rural area on the outskirts of Lima.
A Mexican police reporter who reported having received threats from organized crime was killed in the state of Guerrero on March 2.
After a weeklong hearing, a court in Oaxaca found former police commander Jorge Armando Santiago Martínez guilty of the 2016 murder of journalist Marcos Hernández Bautista, according to a March 4 release from the Oaxaca Attorney General. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 178,000 pesos in damages (about $9,077). A motive was not mentioned.
A radio announcer and the director of a radio station in the Dominican Republic were killed on the morning of Feb. 14 in the city of San Pedro de Macorís. According to EFE, an armed man entered the location and began firing several times. However, local media pointed out that there could have been two male attackers.