Americas

2010

  
(Línea Directa Radio)

Missing reporter found dead in Mexico

New York, January 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican authorities today to thoroughly investigate the killing of José Luis Romero, a Mexican crime reporter who had been abducted on December 30. Romero, at left, was found dead on Saturday near the city of Los Mochis, in the state of Sinaloa, according to local…

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A man sits amid the rubble in Port-au-Prince. (AP)

How to help journalists in Haiti

The scenes from Port-au-Prince are horrifying, and the needs are staggering. There is no food, no water, no place to bury the dead. And there is also no information. According to CPJ’s Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauria, who spoke with Haitian journalist Guylar Delva today, only a handful of Creole-language radio stations are operating. Journalists are unable to work…

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Haitian journalist describes scenes of death and destruction

At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, prominent Haitian journalist Joseph Guyler Delva, 43, was driving his car on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Delva, the country’s leading press freedom advocate, was on his way to pick-up his 7-year-old daughter from school when he heard a loud bang. “I thought I was hit by a truck,” he said. After…

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A Mexican soldier carries blocks of cocaine for incineration in Matamoros. (Reuters)

Mexican cartels blow the whistle on news coverage

On Thursday, I wrote about the murder of reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa on January 7 and how the Mexican media has silenced its own coverage of the killing. Today, I will get into how journalists and drug cartels have entered into a dangerous, symbiotic relationship.

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(José Flores)

Newspaper editor jailed for defamation in Peru

New York, January 14, 2010—The editor of a Peruvian weekly newspaper in the Amazonian city of Bagua, Utcubamba province, was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in jail on defamation charges, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for his immediate release.Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, at right, editor of the Bagua-based…

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Valdés (Zócalo de Saltillo)

Media self-censors after killing of Mexican reporter

Twenty-nine-year-old reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa was picked up by gunmen in two SUVs from the streets of downtown Saltillo, Mexico, late at night on January 7. He was tortured, bound by his hands and feet, and dumped at the Motel Marbella, where they shot him dead, according to state investigators, who discovered him early Friday. Another reporter abducted…

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CPJ
Al-Iraqiya

After succession of surgeries, Iraqi cameraman leaves U.S.

Today, more than year after landing in the United States to receive medical treatment for severe injuries sustained while reporting in Baghdad, Jehad Ali boarded a plane at the Detroit Wayne County Airport en route to Beirut.

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(Zócalo de Saltillo)

Abducted reporter found dead in Mexico

New York, January 8, 2010—Mexican reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa was abducted on Thursday and found shot to death early this morning in the city of Saltillo, Coahuila state, in northern Mexico, according to local news reports. Mexican authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into this vicious attack and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee…

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Abducted Mexican reporter found dead

We issued the following statement today in response to the killing of Mexican reporter Valentín Valdés Espinosa of the Saltillo-based daily Zócalo in the state of Coahuila. Espinosa was abducted by unidentified assailants Thursday and found dead early today, according to press reports…

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From deathbed, Mexican journalist makes accusation

In the course of investigating the December 22 murder of newspaper owner José Alberto Velázquez López, CPJ discovered allegations of corruption that often hover over crimes against journalists in Mexico. The first thing I heard was that the authorities in the town where Velázquez worked had ordered his murder. In Mexico, officials are often seen…

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2010