Paraguay

New York, February 1, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Paraguayan and Brazilian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into death threats against journalist Cándido Figueredo and to ensure his safety. Police officials confirmed last month that they had intercepted a phone call between two criminal figures who discussed killing the Paraguayan journalist, according to local press reports.

 
New York, August 23, 2007—Radio reporter Tito Alberto Palma was shot to death Wednesday night at a friend’s house in Paraguay’s southeastern city of Mayor Otaño. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Paraguayan authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and bring all those responsible to justice.

Palma, a reporter for the local radio station Mayor Otaño and correspondent for the Asunción-based Radio Chaco Boreal, was having dinner at a friend’s home when two armed individuals in camouflage broke in at 10:40 p.m., according to press reports and CPJ interviews. Without saying a word, the two assailants began to fire their weapons, the owner of the house, Aparicio Martínez, told local reporters. Palma was shot in the head, neck, arms, and legs, Vicente Paéz, secretary-general of the Paraguayan Journalists Union, told CPJ. Palma’s friend, Wilma Martínez, was shot in the leg and was in stable condition today, according to local press reports.

New York, July 16, 2007—A Paraguayan radio reporter resurfaced last week in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, almost a year and a half after he went missing in northern Paraguay. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news that Enrique Galeano was found alive, and it called on Paraguayan and Brazilian authorities to fully investigate the case. 

Two Paraguayan journalists discovered Galeano’s whereabouts during their own investigation of the case, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. Galeano told them he had been seized from his home, taken to Brazil, and told to keep silent or his family would be killed. Galeano, who is now seeking asylum in Uruguay, could not be reached by CPJ for comment today; intermediaries said his contact information was not immediately available.

New York, May 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the safety of Paraguayan journalist Oscar Bogado Silva, who has received repeated death threats after reporting on local corruption and drug trafficking.

Bogado, correspondent for the Asunción-based daily Última Hora, told CPJ that unidentified individuals broke into his home in the southern city of Encarnación on April 24. No one was in the house at the time and the assailants did not take anything, but they left every door in the house open, Bogado said. A day later, the journalist received a call at his home phone from an unidentified individual, who warned Bogado that he was being watched.

President Duarte Frutos: The Committee to Protect Journalists would like to reiterate its concern about the fate of Enrique Galeano, Paraguayan host of a morning news and music program on the Horqueta-based Radio Azotey, who has been missing for over a year. We urge you to uphold your pledge to thoroughly investigate Galeano's case.

Although freedom of expression is enshrined in Brazil's 1988 constitution, journalists' ability to cover the news was impeded by judges whose legal interpretations effectively restricted the press. During the run-up to the October 1 general election, electoral courts banned media outlets from covering corruption allegations against political candidates.

The death of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner in August triggered a wave of stories about the widespread human rights and press freedom abuses woven into the fabric of Paraguayan history. As today’s journalists reflected on the institutionalized attacks of the past, they confronted different, yet grave dangers of their own. Reporters in isolated regions were at risk in covering drug trafficking and crime, and their colleagues in the capital, Asunción, faced legal harassment when they criticized officials and exposed corruption.

New York, July 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges authorities in Paraguay to investigate death threats against a journalist covering drug trafficking in an area where another journalist disappeared more than five months ago.

Luis Alcides Ruiz Díaz of the weekly Hechos received an anonymous text message Saturday warning him about his reporting, the local press reported. It was the third such message since Ruiz wrote about the drug trade in the northeast city of Pedro Juan Caballero on the Brazilian border. He published a list of names of alleged traffickers.

New York, March 30, 2006—Nearly two months after Paraguayan radio reporter Enrique Galeano vanished, the Committee to Protect Journalists today placed the journalist on its missing list and renewed its call for the authorities to thoroughly investigate the journalist’s fate.

Galeano, also known as “El Pirulito,” has been missing since February 4, when he disappeared near Yby Yaú, a small town in the northern Concepción province. Galeano hosts a morning news and music show on Radio Azotey in the city of Horqueta, and he is the editor of the monthly Alo vecino.

New York, March 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Paraguayan authorities to fully investigate an attack against newspaper reporter Juan Augusto Roa, whose car was fired on by unidentified gunmen on Monday night near the southern city of Encarnación. The reporter was unharmed.

Roa, a correspondent for the Asunción-based daily ABC Color, told CPJ he was doing research in the city of Mayor Otaño for a story about the environmental effects of Paraguayan paper mills located near the border with Argentina.