Haitian journalist, YouTuber kidnapped by gang members, released
Local journalist Sean Roubens was kidnapped on March 14, 2024, by a gang in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince and held for 17 days before being released unharmed on March 30. Roubens, 42, is a veteran fixer, assisting foreign journalists and social media personalities seeking to report on Haiti’s gang violence. At the time of…
Peruvian authorities target journalist Gustavo Gorriti in bribery probe
Bogotá, April 2, 2024 – Peruvian authorities must drop their investigation of journalist Gustavo Gorriti and respect the right of reporters to maintain confidential sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On March 27, Alcides Chinchay, a public prosecutor in the capital city of Lima, opened a preliminary investigation into Gorriti, the editor-in-chief of…
‘Powerful enemies’: Did a prosecutor order the murder of Haitian journalist Garry Tesse?
Haitian journalist Garry Tesse was on his way to work at a local radio station in the southern city of Les Cayes when he disappeared shortly after exiting a taxi. His naked and disfigured corpse was found six days later face down on the seashore close to downtown. One of his eyes was gouged out,…
CPJ, 8 other groups urge Guatemalan leaders to expand press freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has joined eight other press freedom organizations in urging Guatemala’s leaders to address the concerning decline in the country’s press freedom and its significance for democracy. In a statement issued ahead of the meeting between Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, March 25, the organizations called on the…
Haitian journalist Lucien Jura kidnapped as violence escalates in capital
Editor’s note: Since the publication of this report, Lucien Jura was released by kidnappers, his brother Erick Jura told CPJ on Thursday. Miami, March 20, 2024—The kidnappers of journalist Lucien Jura should release him immediately and not hold journalists as pawns, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Jura was abducted from his home in…
CPJ signs joint statement expressing concern over injunction in favor of alleged murderers of Brazilian journalist
CPJ joined six Brazilian press freedom and advocacy organizations in a joint statement expressing concern about the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) injunction on February 28 that annulled the trial of four alleged murderers of journalist Valério Luiz de Oliveira. The statement urged the court to accept the prosecution’s motion for clarification, reverse its decision,…
Venezuela pulls German TV station Deutsche Welle off the air after critical report
Bogotá, March 7, 2024—The Venezuelan government must allow German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle and other international news channels to broadcast freely in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, DW’s Spanish-language TV channel posted a video on X calling Venezuela “the world’s second most corrupt country” and reporting that high-ranking politicians…
Why extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to US would be cataclysmic for press freedom
The Australian founder of the website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been fighting extradition to the U.S. from the U.K. since 2019 on charges that could strike a blow to press freedom globally. Here is CPJ’s briefing on the legal battle to extradite Assange, the charges he would face in the U.S., and why his prosecution…
Canadian journalist arrested, charged with obstruction while reporting
On January 10, 2024, police in Edmonton, Canada, arrested and charged Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin with obstruction in connection with her reporting on a homeless encampment raided by police, according to social media posts from Morin and Ricochet, the publication for which she was on assignment. Morin was in the encampment conducting interviews for a story about the Indigenous-led…