More than 20 years after the fall of the dictatorships and civil wars that dominated Latin America, the region continues to be marked by a strong retaliation against the press, according to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) most recent annual index on the state of press freedom, which was published on Feb. 12.
A day after the death of Bandeirantes TV’s cameraman Santiago Andrade on Feb. 10, Brazil’s Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo met with the leaders of the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert), the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) and the National Association of Magazine Editors (Aner) to discuss ideas on how to improve the safety of journalists, according to Agência Brasil.
Authorities in the violent state of Veracruz found on Tuesday the body of reporter Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, who was missing since last week. Four people allegedly linked to his murder are in custody, reported Mexican daily El Universal.
Santiago Ilídio Andrade, 49, a Brazilian cameraman from Bandeirantes TV was injured last week by an explosive device during a protest in Rio de Janeiro. He was confirmed brain-dead on Monday morning by the Municipal Department of health, according to the news outlet Uol.
The trial of 11 persons accused of killing Brazilian journalist and blogger Décio Sá began on Feb. 3 in the Brazilian state of Maranhão – almost two years after the crime took place, Brazilian news organization G1 reported.
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission will investigate the Jan. 23 murder of a journalist in Guerrero. It is the first killing of a journalist in Mexico this year.
Last Friday Judge Yvickel Dabresil accused nine persons – several of whom were close to former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide – of being involved in the 2000 murder of well-known journalist Jean Leopold Dominique. At the time, Dominique was openly critical of Aristide’s re-election, Reuters said.
Twelve journalists were killed in Latin American countries in 2013, according to an annual report by Reporters Without Borders released today.
A provincial Honduran journalist was gunned down and killed on Dec. 7, Reporters Without Borders informed. Juan Carlos Argeñal, 49, is the third journalist this year to be murdered in the country.
In Guyana, journalists avoid putting their names in bylines and media outlets share and publish their original investigative pieces simultaneously to further protect reporters from violence, according to an International Press Institute interview with Julia Johnson
Several journalism organizations have requested an investigation on last month’s murder attempt against Colombian TV journalist Diego Gómez Valverde in the department of Valle del Cauca.
In a recent interview with the International Press Institute (IPI) and Transparency International (TI), Mexican journalist Jorge Carrasco, safety and justice correspondent for news magazine Proceso, spoke about the 2012 killing of her colleague Regina Martínez