A Guatemalan judge sentenced the vice-president of the Safety Commission of Panajachel, in the department of Sololá in southern Guatemala to three years and eight months in jail for discriminating against and threatening a journalist, according to the Center for Informative Reports of Guatemala (Cerigua).
After receiving death threats, a Honduran TV reporter sought refuge in a police station on the night of Monday, Aug. 27, reported the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre).
The Bolivian government said that it would sue the Fides News Agency (ANF in Spanish) for alleged defamation against Bolivian President Evo Morales, although the case is still being analyzed by a legal team, reported the newspaper Los Tiempos.
On Monday, Aug. 20, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) declared the blockade on the circulation of newspapers in Argentina a "press freedom violation." “While the unions have a legitimate right to express themselves, their actions cannot limit the right to press freedom nor restrict people’s access to the information that the news media disseminate," IAPA said.
A Colombian journalist was attacked and threatened by unknown individuals in Ecuador after publishing a detailed report about the lack of freedom of expression in Ecuador and the recent decision of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to give asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, reported the newspapers Hoy and La Hora.
A slew of attacks and threats against journalists took place over the last week in Argentina. After being beaten, one journalist also received a death threat in the village of Sancti Spirtiu in the province of Santa Fe on Tuesday, Aug. 14, reported the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish).
Research from the International News Safety Institute (INSI) ranked Brazil among the five worst countries for journalists during the first half of the year. That places Brazil alongside Nigeria, Somalia, Indonesia, and Mexico, reported the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji in Portuguese) on Thursday, Aug. 9. As of June, at least 70 journalists and other news media professionals were killed worldwide because of their job -- that's 14 more journalists than the first six months of 2011.
Journalists received a threatening letter in a sealed envelope at a radio station in Young, Uruguay, on Aug. 7, reported the newspaper El País.
A Honduran journalist said that he is requesting asylum in the U.S. for himself and five family members after being threatened and being attacked, according to the news agency AFP.
Argentine journalist Gabriel Bauducco, editor of the Playboy magazine in Mexico, reported receiving death threats through several anonymous e-mails on Wednesday, Aug. 1, according to a video on the magazine's website.
A video showing evidence that kidnapped Colombian journalist Elida Parra Alfonso is alive was broadcast on on Wednesday, August 1, on the national TV channel, Canal Caracol, according to Reporters Without Borders. The journalist, along with engineer Gina Paola Uribe, were kidnapped more than a week ago by the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish).
Investigative journalist Lydia Cacho has fled Mexico on the heals of new death threats against the journalist, reported Fox News Latino on Friday, Aug. 3.