An ex-paramilitary member in Colombia was sentenced to 24 years and two months in prison for killing journalist Álvaro Alonso Escobar 10 years ago, reported the Foundation for a Free Press.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro ranted against the foreign press for reporting on the Jan. 19th death of political prisoner William Villar who had been on a hunger strike while in a prison in Santiago de Cuba, according to the newspaper Diario de Cuba.
“Mexico is a magical country where there are murders, but no murderers,” said the Mexican poet Homero Aridjis, protesting the rampant impunity in crimes against journalists during an international delegation of writers -- including several Nobel laureates -- organized by the group PEN International, held Sunday, Jan. 29, in Mexico City. The group, including Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa and Toni Morrison of the United States, took out a full-page ad in the El Universal newspaper that was signed by 170 writers and celebrated the bravery of journalists in Mexico, according to the Associated Press.
On the 29th anniversary of the killing of eight journalists in the community of Uchuraccay, Peru, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP in Spanish) criticized a bill known as the "Mordaza Law," which they consider a restriction of press freedom in the Andean country.
Investigations have concluded that the killing of Mexican reporter Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino in the border state of Nuevo León was a case of mistaken identity, according to Reporters Without Borders.
After the prime suspect behind the conspiracy to kill a Paraguayan journalist was freed on Dec. 31, 2011, the crime's perpetrators are now soliciting their own release on Jan. 10, reported the newspaper Vanguardia.
One year after the Jan. 8 shooting in Arizona that prompted NPR and other media outlets to incorrectly report that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been killed, Poynter looks back at how so many journalists got it wrong. Poynter even named the false reports of Giffords' death the worst error of 2011.
On Jan. 6, Brazilian police accused a 16-year-old boy of allegedly killing journalist Laércio de Souza in Salvador, Bahia, reported Correio 24 horas.
The same day that the International Press Institute (IPI) named Mexico the world's most dangerous country to practice journalism, an armed gang killed journalist Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino in the border state of Nuevo León on Jan. 6, reported Proceso.
The International Association of Radio Broadcasters (AIR) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asked the Brazilian authorities to carefully investigate the killing of journalist Laércio de Souza, a reporter for Rádio Sucesso in Camaçari, Bahia, reported the websites G1 and Terra.
Brazilian journalist Laécio de Souza was shot to death the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 3, in the metropolitan area of Salvador, the capital city of the state of Bahia, reported G1. Police said the radio reporter had received threats on his cell phone minutes before he was killed, according to the news site Itaberaba Notícias.
Amilton Alexander, a Brazilian blogger known as Mosquito was found dead in his house Tuesday, Dec. 13, in the city of Florianópolis, in the state of Santa Catarina, according to Cangablog.