Brazilian journalist Walter Pimentel died after being shot in the head during a robbery at a grocery store in São Paulo, reported Folha.com.
The investigation into the killing of political journalist Auro Ida on July 21 in the Brazilian city of Cuiabá from six gunshots is making progress, announced the Secretary of Security of Mato Grosso, Diógenes Curado.
Behind Mexico, tied in second place are Brazil and Honduras as the Latin American countries with the most killings of journalists this year, according to the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), reported Folha de S. Paulo.
Paramilitary groups represent one of the greatest threats to the press in Colombia, where 84 cases of aggression and harassment against journalists were recorded in the first semester of this year, leaving 104 victims.
A Peruvian appeals court has reduced the prison sentence for journalist Paul Garay from three years to 18 months, but has confirmed that he will remain in jail, reported Crónica Viva.
Dominican reporter José Agustín Silvestre for Cana TV was kidnapped and killed Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the city of La Romana, Dominican Republic, local press reported. His body was found near a pond with two gunshot wounds, according to El Día.
Hardly seven months have gone by and 2011 is already the most "tragic year in the last two decades for the Latin American press."
In a São Paulo court, six witnesses testified in a civil case of the death of journalist Luiz Eduardo da Rocha Merlino, who was tortured and killed 40 years ago during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985), according to Agência Brasil.
The ex-director of the Liberal political party in Colombia, Francisco Ferney Tapasco González, is going to be tried in the killing of the assistant editor of the newspaper La Patria, Orlando Sierra.
A man suspected of killing political journalist Auro Ida was arrested by the police July 25 in the neighborhood of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso where the crime occurred, G1 reports. Soon after, the 19-year-old man was released by the police when the victim’s girlfriend – the principal witness to the crime – failed to recognize him, Terra explains. The police say he is still under investigation.
Forty years after journalist Luis Eduardo Merlino was arrested, tortured, and killed during Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985), retired Army Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra is being tried for his alleged role in the crime, Correio do Brasil reports.
Journalist Yolanda Orda, who had been missing for 48 hours, was found dead in Veracruz, Mexico, July 26, the Associated Press reports. Ordaz, who covered police issues for Notiver – one of the most important dailies in the region – is the second journalist from the paper to be killed in the last five weeks and the seventh Mexican journalist killed in 2011.