Reporter Elisa Mejías and photojournalist Miguel Carrera, both of the newspaper La Prensa of Barquisimeto, died over the weekend when the car in which they were traveling overturned while they were being closely followed by another vehicle whose occupants presumably wanted to rob them, La Prensa and El Informador report. Two other journalists from the same newspaper were seriously wounded.
Mexico's interior minister, Fernando Gómez Mont, demanded the press act responsibly, insisting that the violence prevailing in the country is caused by information spread by the media, El Universal and El Economista report.
Journalist Gilvan Luiz Pereira, 41, was kidnapped and tortured by three hooded men Thursday night (May 20), in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, the newspaper O Povo reports. Pereira is owner and editor of the regional newspaper “Sem Nome” (Without a name), which opposes the current municipal administration.
President Barack Obama is hosting his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderón this week on an official state visit to Washington that includes talks on bilateral issues such as immigration and drug violence on the U.S.–Mexico border. The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the leaders to put Mexico’s press freedom crisis on their agenda.
The Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Catalina Botero, says that Latin America still faces major challenges to freedom of expression, despite advancements on political fronts. Botero reiterated the gravity of killings, attacks, threats, disappearances, and imprisonment of journalists, EFE reports.
President Porfirio Lobo is arranging for Spain and Colombia to help solve the crimes committed in the last two months against six journalists and one radio announcer in Honduras, El Heraldo reports.
Oscar Sánchez Madan was released from prison this week after serving a three-year term for “social dangerousness,” a vague charge he received after covering a local corruption scandal. He tells Radio Martí that he wants to keep writing about current affairs on the island, including Havana’s human rights violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.
Twenty-six reporters—12 from Mexico and 14 from the United States— participated March 26-27 in the McCormick Foundation's Specialized Reporting Institute: Cross-border Coverage of U.S.–Mexico Drug Trafficking. The seminar took place in Austin and was organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA) released a statement calling on the authorities to guarantee the safety of press workers who are covering the recent conflicts in the Parque Indoamericano (American Indian Park) in Buenos Aires, which is currently occupied by at least 5,000 homeless squatters, many of them immigrants. FOPEA also asked media companies to prioritize the safety of their employees.
A Lima court acquitted Luis Valdez Villacorta, the former mayor of Coronel Portillo, on charges that he had ordered the killing of journalist Alberto Rivera in 2004, the Associated Press reports.