At least three Argentine journalists were threatened in recent days, reported the radio station FM Activa. To be a journalist in Argentina is becoming a harder task; aside from having many problems with a government that refuses to respect freedom of information and of the press, lately, the attacks and threats against journalists are becoming more frequent in the country.
Another journalist from the Brazilian state of Maranhão has reported threats after the killing of journalist Décio Sá, reported the website Gazeta da Ilha on Monday, May 14. Other reporters and publishers of the state said they received frequent threats. Sá's friends say that he received threats before he was shot to death in a bar in São Luiz.
A Paraguayan journalist received a threatening letter at his home on Tuesday, May 8, from the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP in Spanish), reported the radio station 970 AM. The letter said "No to bourgeois journalism, protected by corrupt, nepotistic public officials. The armed struggle continues,” reported the newspaper Última Hora.
In addition to the kidnapping of Honduran journalist Alfredo Villatoro, five other Honduran journalists reported death threats in San Pedro Sula during 2012 so far, reported the newspaper La Prensa.
After the United States criticized the state of freedom of expression in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa fired back, saying it was an “embarrassment” that U.S. President Barack Obama would “defend informants,” according to the news agency AFP.
The former president of the Brazilian city council of Curitiba (Paraná), João Carlos Derosso, threw a humor journalist's microphone out the window of a four-story building on Tuesday, May 8, reported the newspaper Gazeta do Povo. Journalist Maurício Meirelles is from the TV program Custe o que Custar on the CQC station.
On Monday, May 7, in an article published by the Argentine newspaper Clarin, journalist Daniel Santoro said that he was victim of a plot to discredit him created by the Argentine Intelligence Agency (SIDE in Spanish).
As the rest of the world celebrated World Press Freedom Day, Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, Canada, called for police to file charges against Toronto Sun reporter Daniel Dale, and demanded that Dale be removed from the city hall beat, saying he would not speak with any members of the media if Dale were around, reported CTV News and the National Post.
After authorities identified the bodies of two tortured and killed Mexican photojournalists, the Attorney General of the Mexican state of Veracruz confirmed that the other two dismembered bodies found on Thursday, May 3, also belonged to employees of the local press, reported the Program of Freedom of Expression of the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics. Drug cartels are considered suspects in the killings, which highlight the dangers of reporting in parts of Mexico, the Houston Chronicle and the Globe and Main reported.
The Honduran press has been victim to several recent attacks. Two journalists survived armed attacks and another received death threats, said the organization C-Libre.
On Monday, April 30, during unrest at the La Planta prison, in Caracas, Venezuela, the country's minister of prison services, Iris Varela, told the state-run TV channel Venezuelana Televisión (VTV) that the private TV broadcaster Globovisión was spreading "malicious information" and an order was issued to seize the station's equipment and interrupt the channel's transmission, reported the National Association of Journalists (CNP in Spanish).
After the killing of Brazilian journalist Décio Sá, of the newspaper O Estado do Maranhão, on April 23, other local reporters and editors said that they also receive frequent threats, according to Último Segundo.