Corruption and Crime

The body of Noel López Olguín, a local journalist based in the eastern state of Veracruz who had been missing since March 8, was found near Jáltipan, on June 1, four days after Alejandro Castro Chirinos, also known as “El Dragón,” was captured in the nearby city of Coatzacoalcos and confessed to participating in his murder. Police said Castro, who was caught in possession of López’s camera, told...

Local TV presenter Yensi Roberto Ordoñez Galdámez was found murdered May 19 in Nueva Concepción, in the southern department of Escuintla, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The motive is not yet known but he had reportedly been threatened and harassed in connection with his work as journalist. Relatives said unidentified individuals recently extorted 25...

Local newspaper columnist and politician Wilfred Ojeda Peralta was found murdered in La Victoria, in the northern state of Aragua, on May 17 after disappearing the day before. Local press reports quoted relatives as saying they were not aware of his having any enemies. So far there are no clues as to the motive but the method suggests that it was a contract killing carried out at the behest of...

Provincial journalist Jesús Lemus Barajas was released on May 11. The founder and publisher of El Tiempo, a local newspaper in Piedad, in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán, and a former correspondent of the national daily La Jornada, Lemus was arrested on absolutely baseless drug trafficking charges on May 7, 2008 while investigating drug cartel activity in Cuerámaro, in the neighbouring...

Investigators in Kabale must thoroughly investigate an arson attack May 13 on the home of Goodluck Musinguzi, contributor to the state-owned daily, New Vision, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Someone poured gasoline on the house and set it on fire while Musinguzi, his wife, and his newborn child were inside, he told CPJ. Musinguzi, a...

Valério Nascimento, a journalist involved in local politics, was gunned down Tuesday at the entrance to his home in Rio Claro, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. As a journalist, he had covered an alleged corruption case just a few days before the shooting, but the motive is not yet known. “Nascimento’s murder, which took place on World Press Freedom Day, is a reminder that Brazil is still a...

Radio Victoria and the rural community that operates it, located in the northern Salvadorian department of Cabañas, have been the victim of threats and harassment for the past five years and it is time this stopped, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. A new wave of warnings and death threats were received by four of the community radio station’s journalists –...

Radio journalist Julio Castillo Narváez’s murder in Virú (in the northwestern department of La Libertad) on May 3 has cast a further shadow over a day that is meant to be a celebration for journalists and media all over the world, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. Unidentified gunmen shot him six times while he was having lunch in a restaurant. His death was...

New York-based press freedom group Community to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Thursday's arson attack on Haitian community radio station Tèt Ansanm Karis and called on local authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. The blaze destroyed the station's offices and all equipment and left the northeastern city of Carice without a local radio station. According to news reports and CPJ...

Alfredo Hurtado, 45, a cameraman employed by the privately-owned TV station Canal 33, was gunned down in bus in the town of Ilopango, near the capital, Monday evening as he was on his way to work. The motive is not yet known. Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) expressed its support for Hurtado’s family and colleagues and the entire Salvadoran media, now in mourning...