The "bloodshed" continues, said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after the killing in Mexico of Marco Aurelio Martínez Tijerina, in the state of Nuevo León, and Guillermo Alcaraz Trejo, of Chihuahua, in the northern part of the country. Their deaths bring the number of media workers killed in Mexico this year to at least 10, according to RSF.
Reporter Márcia Pache, of TV Centro Oeste, the affiliate of the channel Sistema Brasileño de Televisión (SBT) in Mato Grosso, filed another complaint against Councilman Lourivaldo Rodrigues de Moraes, of the city of Pontes e Lacerda, for continuing to intimidate her, reported Comunique-se.
The media suffering most from the killings of at least eight journalists this year in Mexico are those in the interior of the country who are essentially defenseless against the violence, reported the Inter Press Service (IPS).
Hugo Olivera Cartas was killed Tuesday morning after being shot three times. The body was found in a pickup truck on a road between the cities of Tepalcatepec and Aguililla in the western state of Michoacán, reports the news agency Quadratín, where the journalist worked. (See this Associated Press article in English.)
The attorney general’s office decided to restructure the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists, which will now focus specifically on crimes against media workers who are attacked for their profession, El Universal and EFE report.
In a letter to the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mexican President Felipe Calderón acknowledges a letter CPJ sent him a month ago about the increase in the number of cases of attacks and harassment by security forces against the press. The president said that the complaint was sent to the Attorney General's office, which will offer a response.
Journalist Márcia Pache, from TV Centro-Oeste, affiliate of SBT in Pontes e Lacerda, west of Cuiabá, was hit in the face on Monday, June 28, by Councilman Lorivaldo Rodrigues de Moraes (DEM), known as "Kirrarinha," according to the website Midia News.
Journalists throughout Venezuela celebrated Day of the Journalist on Sunday, June 27. In Caracas, journalists took to the streets, fighting for freedom of expression and an end to attacks against the media, reported El Universal.
Mayoral candidate Luis Cáceres Velásquez in the Peruvian city of Arequipa cussed at and then punched the face of radio reporter Huber Ocsa Llacasi, knocking his glasses off, after the journalist asked Cáceres why he did not leave an event that he was not invited to, reports Correo.
Luís Arturo Mondragón, news director for a local cable news channel, died after leaving work when two people shot him from the window of their vehicle in El Paraíso, east of the capital, El Heraldo reports.
Thirteen journalists and photographers from Michoacán state in southwestern Mexico were abducted for three hours during a government media tour to promote tourism in the region, the Associated Press reports.
Two local police officers and a third accomplice were indicted for last month's kidnapping and torture of journalist Gilvan Luiz Pereira, editor and owner of Jornal Sem Nome (Newspaper Without a Name), in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, the Diário do Nordeste newspaper reports.