Americas

  

Nicaragua deports 135 political prisoners, including journalist 

Mexico City, September 6, 2024—Nicaraguan authorities deported 135 political prisoners to Guatemala on Thursday, September 5, including journalist Víctor Ticay. “Nicaragua’s release of journalist Víctor Ticay brings us relief, but he should have never been imprisoned, as he was simply doing his job as a journalist,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator, in São Paulo. “Nicaragua must…

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Coalizão em Defesa do Jornalismo Brazil logo

CPJ, others reject 7-year prison sentence for Brazilian journalist over blog

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the 10 other members of Brazil’s Coalition in Defense of Journalism in condemning the August 12 sentencing of journalist Ricardo Antunes to seven years in prison for slander, libel, and defamation after he published five blog posts about a businessman. The posts dealt with an investigation into an alleged…

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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 28, 2024.

CPJ, #KeepItOn partners call on Venezuela to end digital shutdowns

Mexico City, September 3, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists and #KeepItOn coalition partners have called on Nicolás Maduro’s government to stop imposing internet shutdowns and blocking essential communication platforms in Venezuela in response to post-election protests. After Maduro was declared the winner of the July 28 presidential contest, authorities shut down the internet and blocked…

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Robert Telles

CPJ welcomes conviction in killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German

Washington, D.C., August 28, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news that jurors had reached a decision in the trial of Robert Telles, who was found guilty of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. “While Wednesday’s ruling will not bring Jeff German back to his family, friends, and colleagues, the conviction sends an…

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CPJ and eight more journalism and human rights groups signed a submission documenting the use of various tactics to silence journalists in Nicaragua, such as the closure of the Nicaraguan Journalists Association office, pictured here on March 17, 2022, in Managua, Nicaragua . (Reuters/Maynor Valenzuela)

Press freedom in Nicaragua nearly nonexistent, CPJ and rights groups tell UN

Mexico City, August 27, 2024—Nicaragua has escalated its persecution of critical voices since 2018, pushing freedom of expression to a nearly nonexistent state, according to a joint submission to the United Nations by the Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other journalism and human rights groups. The submission, prepared for Nicaragua’s Universal Periodic Review in…

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Grajales, editor of news website Villaflores.com.mx, was shot multiple times by unidentified gunmen who broke into his residence in Villaflores, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, just after midnight on August 21. (Photo: courtesy Gabriela Coutiño)

Mexican journalist Ariel Grajales shot multiple times at Chiapas home

Mexico City, August 22, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Mexican authorities to immediately and comprehensively investigate the shooting of Ariel Grajales Rodas and take measures to ensure his and his family’s safety.  Grajales, editor of news website Villaflores.com.mx, was shot multiple times by unidentified gunmen who broke into his residence in…

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Red paint sprayed on the apartment building of Brooklyn Museum's Jewish director.

CPJ calls on New York police to explain arrest of journalist over pro-Palestinian vandalism

Washington, D.C., August 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the New York Police Department to explain its reasons for arresting a New York City videographer on hate crime charges after he reported on pro-Palestinian protesters who smeared red paint on the homes of two Brooklyn Museum officials, including the director who is Jewish. “We…

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Mexican crime reporter Alejandro Martínez Noguez had been assigned police guards due to prior threats on his life. He was shot and killed while with bodyguards in the city of Celaya on August 4, 2024. (Screenshot: YouTube/Milenio)

Mexican crime reporter Alejandro Martínez Noguez killed while under police protection

Mexico City, August 6, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of Mexican crime reporter Alejandro Martínez Noguez, who was shot while in a car with his bodyguards in the central state of Guanajuato on Sunday. “Mexican authorities must act immediately to find and arrest the killers of Alejandro Martínez Noguez, whose death underscores…

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Two officers in riot gear ride past people on a street on a motorcycle. One is carrying a rifle.

Journalist shot, 2 detained as Venezuela cracks down on election protest coverage

Bogotá, August 2, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Venezuelan authorities to allow the media to report safely on protests over President Nicolás Maduro’s widely disputed claim to have won the country’s July 28 presidential election.   Government security forces shot and injured one journalist and arrested six others—two of whom remain in detention—while…

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Cyberattackers are knocking out media sites around the world with an emerging censorship strategy that uses inexpensive tools, masks attackers' identities, and is very difficult to defend against. (Photo illustration: CPJ; source image: Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader)

Cyberattackers use easily available tools to target media sites, threaten press freedom

When exiled Russian news website Meduza was hit with a flood of internet traffic in mid-April, it set off alarm bells among the staff as the deluge blocked publishing for more than four hours and briefly rendered the site inaccessible for some readers. It was the largest distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) attack in…

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