Reporting on the repossession of land seized in the community of Pinheirinho, in São José dos Campos in the interior of the state of São Paulo, has been marred by police brutality and the curtailment of press freedom.
A Brazilian journalist was attacked and his camera was damaged while covering a protest on the streets of Teresina, in the state of Piauí on Jan. 19, reported TV Piauí. The reporter believes his attacker was a security guard with the Union of Urban Transport Businesses of Teresina.
Police in Uruguay's second largest city, Salto, opened an internal investigation on Jan. 19 to determine responsibility for an attack on the reporter Luis Díaz for the newspaper El Pueblo, reported the publication.
Brazilian journalists received death threats over e-mail after reporting on investigations by the State Public Ministry into family members and other people connected to the city's mayor, Silvio Félix, according to Canal Rio Claro. The reporters, in the city of Limeira, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, are from the newspapers Gazeta de Limeira and Jornal de Limeira, and TV Jornal.
A Brazilian journalist was beaten and his memory card stolen by alleged plainclothes police while covering the repression of a student protest in the city of Teresina, capital of the state of Piauí in the evening of Jan. 10, reported the website O Dia.
The United States announced at its Mexican embassy that it will donate $5 million to improve the safety of journalists in the country over the next four years, reported CNN Mexico on Jan. 11.
After the prime suspect behind the conspiracy to kill a Paraguayan journalist was freed on Dec. 31, 2011, the crime's perpetrators are now soliciting their own release on Jan. 10, reported the newspaper Vanguardia.
The same day that the International Press Institute (IPI) named Mexico the world's most dangerous country to practice journalism, an armed gang killed journalist Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino in the border state of Nuevo León on Jan. 6, reported Proceso.
The Inter American Press Association's annual review of press freedom found 2011 to be one of the most "challenging and tragic years" for the region's journalists, the association (IAPA) said in a statement.
The International Association of Radio Broadcasters (AIR) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asked the Brazilian authorities to carefully investigate the killing of journalist Laércio de Souza, a reporter for Rádio Sucesso in Camaçari, Bahia, reported the websites G1 and Terra.
Expiring statutes of limitations for journalists killed in Colombia is adding to the South American country's rampant impunity, according to Periodistas en Español (Journalists in Spanish).
An ex-police officer and ex-deputy in Argentina has been found guilty of killing a journalist 35 years ago, reported the Associated Press on Nov. 25.