The Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR for its acronym in Spanish) announced on Dec. 2 that a man identified as Fabricio "N" in Mexicali, capital of the state of Baja California, was arrested and accused of being responsible for the abduction of a journalist and theft of his materials in February of this year.
Following the October murder of Mexican photojournalist Edgar Esqueda in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, a cellphone video sent to a former police officer spread on the internet. It showed Esqueda, bound and on his knees, offering the names of crime reporters at newspapers across the state. In response, San Luis Potosí Gov. Juan Manuel Carreras ordered immediate protection measures—a police patrol car for every reporter named in the video.
On Nov. 29, the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP) denied an appeal in the second instance from Brazilian photographer Sérgio Silva, who sought compensation from the State for losing his left eye after being hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in São Paulo on June 13, 2013.
Though the number of journalists killed for their work decreased globally in 2017, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted one exception: Mexico.
Almost four years after the UN General Assembly declared Nov. 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI), the date has become a time for media professionals and freedom of expression groups in Latin America and the rest of the world to call attention to levels of violence and impunity affecting their colleagues.
The "Forbidden Stories" project launched Oct. 31 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF for its acronym in French) and the Freedom Voices Network aims to protect the stories of journalists who are at risk or under threat for doing their jobs: to report.
Mexico and Brazil are among the countries that saw the highest increases in impunity ratings in cases of murders of journalists over the past 10 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and its 10th Annual Global Impunity Index.
In the course of 9,190 miles and four months, reporters Bob Fernandes and Bruno Miranda visited four Brazilian states to find out who pulled the trigger and who ordered the firing of 36 shots that killed six Brazilian journalists in iconic cases for the country's press.
The case of Claudia Julieta Duque, who was persecuted and tortured psychologically in 2001 and 2004, has been classified as a crime against humanity by the Attorney General of the Nation.
A cameraman who reported receiving death threats was killed in western Honduras on Oct. 23.
A Guatemalan court sentenced Sergio Waldemar Cardona Reyes to 30 years in prison for the 2015 murder of journalist Danilo López.
The Colombian National Police is being accused of potentially being responsible for two separate attacks on press freedom on Oct. 8.