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.
A man identifying himself as the brother of the former state prosecutor of Chihuahua, Patricia González, declared in a video that he and his sister are part of the criminal organization “La Línea,” also known as the Juárez cartel, Milenio reports.
The legislature of the northern border state of Chihuahua unanimously passed several legal reforms that will punish those who kill on-duty police officers and journalists with life in prison, El Diario de Juárez and Milenio report.
Police have arrested a man in Rio Grande do Norte state who has confessed to killing radio journalist Francisco Gomes de Medeiros on Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. Gomes was a local radio news director and blogger who had reported on corruption and crime, including drug trafficking.
Esneider Mayorga Corrales. the former mayor of Curillo, in southern Colombia, received 40 years in prison for ordering the killing of journalist and community leader Hernando Salas Rojas last year, reported the news agency EFE. The hit-man who committed the murder, Elber Parra Cuéllar, was sentenced to 42 years.
Katherine Izaguirre, a journalist for the Honduran station Globo TV, said several armed individuals kidnapped her for two hours, threatened her, and then stole her camera, El Tiempo reports.
On Oct. 18, journalist Francisco Gomes de Medeiros was killed in front of his home in the city of Caicó in Rio Grande do Norte state, O Globo’s Repórter de Crime blog reports. F. Gomes, as he was known, worked in radio in the city, was an active blogger, and collaborated with various media outlets in the state. He is the second Brazilian journalist killed in three days.
Journalist Wanderlei dos Reis was shot by three men Saturday night, Oct. 16, inside his home in Ibitinga, São Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reports. He underwent surgery for a serious leg wound and died Sunday morning.
During President Felipe Calderón’s trip to the violent border city across from El Paso, Texas, a group of journalists from Ciudad Juárez called on the president to solve the killings of their colleagues, EFE and the International Press Institute report.
With the violence unleashed by drug cartels profoundly impacting Mexico, both foreign and local journalists are trying to figure out how to cover a war of a different kind, according to a panel presented in front of more than 200 people at the University of Texas at Austin on Thursday, Oct. 7.