Norte newspaper, based in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Cuidad Juárez, denounced a series of incidents against its reporters by federal police forces tasked with fighting organized crime and drug trafficking, the National Center for Social Communication (CENCOS in Spanish) reports. The paper is renowned for continuing to cover drug trafficking issues in Mexico’s deadliest city.
Gaspar Domingos Lazari, the mayor of Confresa, in the western Brazil state of Mato Grosso, is accused of sending “henchmen” to threaten journalist Leandro Nascimento because of articles that revealed corruption at city hall, reported Gazeta Digital.
On June 8, less than two weeks after assailants attempted to burn TV director Mario Esteban López alive, he received threats telling him he could be killed if he stayed in the Ecuador-Colombia border city of Ipiales, El Observador reports.
Journalist Eduardo Villatoro says he received telephoned death threats for his reports on mining and gas plants on the coasts of Guatemala, Cerigua reports via IFEX. Callers told the journalist he could be killed for being an enemy of progress and discouraging foreign investment.
An Argentine journalist denounced the attempted kidnapping of his son after receiving various threats related to his work, reported Análisis. Sergio Schneider, editor in chief at the newspaper Norte in Resistencia, in the province of Chaco, in northeastern Argentina, filed a complaint May 27, in which he called the attempted kidnapping part of a plan to hurt his family because of his journalist work, added Norte.
Zezé Perrella, the president of the Brazilian soccer team Cruzeiro and former federal and state deputy for Minas Gerais, has vowed retaliation against a journalist, Amália Gurgel, of the newspaper Hoje em Dia, after a May 29 story that revealed Perrella had not declared all his possessions or property, according to the blog Chico Maia.
Paraguayan journalist and radio announcer in Ciudad del Este, Carlos Bottino, has filed suit against the governor of Alto Paraná, Nelson Aguinagalde, accusing him of threatening the journalist with death, reported Última Hora.
Journalist Elaine Felchacka’s camera was allegedly stolen by three fans of the Coritiba soccer team based in Curitiba, Brazil, Paraná Online reports.
Alleged members of Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s biggest criminal organizations, were arrested while posting a banner threatening the press in the western Guatemalan city of Quetzaltenango, Observador Global reports.
A retired police general was called to testify about the kidnapping and sexual abuse of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya in 2000, reported the Associated Press (AP).
Two reporters were attacked by a Peruvian presidential candidate's bodyguards, while two other journalists reported threats and censorship as the tension continues to grow in the buildup to the second round of voting in the presidential election, the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) reports via IFEX.
Reiterating statements by other organizations about the dangers the Latin American press faces, Amnesty International has issued a new report that names Latin America as one of the most dangerous regions in the world for journalists, according to CNN.