Journalists in Central America aren't prepared to deal with covering the violence, organized crime and drug trafficking that is moving south from Mexico, said Carlos Dada, editor and founder of El Salvador's digital newspaper El Faro and winner of the 2010 Latin American Studies Association Media Award.
Líbero newspaper’s Gustavo Peralta accused several police officers of “abuse of authority and battery,” La República reports. According to the journalist, the officers broke his arm while he was covering a soccer game on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Several journalists were tear-gassed and beaten by security at a hotel in Cancún that was the site of a Sunday explosion that left seven dead and 18 wounded, La Crónica de Hoy and El Universal report.
An armed group stormed the offices of El Sur newspaper in Acapulco (SW Mexico) Wednesday night,( Nov. 10). They fired inside the building, but none of the 8-12 employees present was harmed, EFE and La Jornada report.
The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) have announced a joint summit focusing on violence against journalists working along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Police reporter Carlos Alberto Guajardo of Expreso newspaper died while covering a shootout between the Mexican military and criminal gangs in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the Brownsville Herald reports.
Several journalist and freedom of expression organizations criticized the press protection measures used by the authorities, which they said lack the resources and scope to attack the problem at its roots, El Diario de Juárez reports.
Civil police are investigating the break-in and theft of computer and printing equipment at the newspaper Correio Mariliense, in the city of Marilia, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. The newspaper said the crime showed signs of being a political attack to disrupt the newspaper's operations, but according to O Globo, police are investigating the case as a common robbery.
The Mexican authorities have presented a mechanism for protecting journalists to stop the attacks on reporters and the media that, in the last decade, have resulted in 65 killings, in addition to 12 disappearances in the past five years, reported CNN Mexico and La Jornada.
Police arrested former military police officer Renato Demétrio de Souza, accusing him of the Oct. 30 shooting of José Rubem Pontes de Souza, the editor and president of Entre-Rios Jornal, in Três Rios, Rio de Janeiro. The suspect was recognized by two witnesses and arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 3. He has denied the charges.
Newspaper editor José Rubem Pontes de Souza, was shot to death early Saturday in front of a bar in Paraíba do Sul, in Rio de Janeiro state, O Globo newspaper reports. The other two Brazilian colleagues shot to death in 15 days are Wanderlei dos Reis in São Paulo state, and Francisco Gomes de Medeiros, whose killing in Rio Grande do Norte has been linked to his work as an investigative reporter.
Gunmen killed the driver of a bus carrying seven journalists who were traveling to cover a campaign appearance by a presidential candidate. One of the reporters was injured when the bus flipped over. Monday's attack occurred when reporters from Port au Prince were driving to Gonaives for an appearance by Jacques Edouard Alexis, one of the leading candidates for the Nov. 28 presidential election. After killing the driver, the attackers stole money and a computer from the reporters, the Associated Press says. Three suspects were later arrested and one was killed in a gunfight, AP adds.