An attack on a photographer in Colombia by the National Police on Oct. 23 prompted press organizations to demand more investigations and punishments against those that harm journalists.
Four assailants poured petrol on a Bolivian reporter and lit him on fire during his radio program on Monday night, Oct. 29, reported BBC. Fernando Vidal, owner and director of Radio Popular in Yacuíba, a city along the border with Argentina, is in critical condition, reported the EFE news agency.
An Ecuadorian journalist claimed she received death threats after presenting a series of reports on drug consumption and carrying guns in schools in the city of Guayaquil, reported the Associated Press.
A member of the Colombian National Police attacked a photographer on Tuesday, Oct. 23, reported the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal. Ana María García, photographer for the newspaper El Tiempo, was covering a serious accident on the mass-transit system of Bogotá, the capital, when the officer attacked her, according to the newspaper.
Story Hunter, a global community of video reporters, recently released a four-minute documentary on the threats Mexican reporters face in Veracruz, a state where 11 journalists have been killed in the last 18 months. The Gulf-state of Veracruz is considered one of the 10 most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Mexican journalists denounced police attacks that interfered with their coverage of student protests in the city of Cherán, Michoacán, reported the organization Article 19.
After going missing for eight days, Brazilian journalist Anderson Leandro da Silva was found dead in a rural area outside Quatro Barras, in the city of Curitiba, on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 18, reported the newspaper Gazeta do Povo.
The Supreme Court of Chile authorized a request for the United States to extradite an ex-military officer accused of killing two U.S. journalists in the South American country, reported the AFP news agency. Both reporters died in 1973, during the early days of the Pinochet dictatorship.
The 68th Inter American Press Association (IAPA) General Assembly will conclude Tuesday, Oct. 16, with debates focused on the future of freedom of expression and journalism in the Americas. Since Friday, Oct. 12, reporters, media owners and critics have been meeting in São Paulo, Brazil to discuss crimes against the press, the sustainability of journalism, digital journalism and copyright rules.
Editor and photojournalist Abel López Aguilar was killed on Monday early morning in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, in the state of Baja California Norte, several national and international media outlets informed.
Prompted by the killing of Luis Henrique Georges, owner of the newspaper Jornal da Praça, in the city of Ponta Porã, Mato Grosso do Sul, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) warned about the "elevated level of insecurity facing the practice of journalism in certain regions of the country," reported the news agency EFE.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the Colombian government was responsible for the attacks suffered by cameraman Luis Gonzalo "Richard" Vélez Restrepo and the threats he received that prompted him and his family to seek asylum, reported the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish) on its website.