Americas

Contact CPJ Americas

Twitter: @CPJAmericas
Facebook: CPJ Americas
Tel: 212-465-1004
Fax: 212-214-0640

Knight Foundation Press Freedom Center
P.O. Box 2675
New York, NY 10108 USA

  
Members of law enforcement hold weapons as they stand guard while people protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, after the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Minnesota reporters recount ICE actions, community solidarity: ‘I know it’s going to be dangerous’

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol operations have intensified in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul areas as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Metro Surge, local journalists have provided an essential look at understanding the impact of federal agents on their community. While DHS says the operation is aimed…

Read More ›

Costa Rica presidential candidate Laura Fernández (right) of the Sovereign People Party is projected to succeed populist President Rodrigo Chaves (left) and continue the country’s crackdown on press freedom. (Photos: Reuters/Mayela Lopez)

Costa Rica’s press freedom hangs in the balance ahead of presidential election

For decades, Costa Rica was held up as Central America’s democratic exception: a country without an army, with strong democratic institutions, and a press able to scrutinize those in power without facing systematic retaliation.  That reputation is now being tested as Costa Rica heads into presidential elections that will culminate in a first round on…

Read More ›

In connection with her work, Julia Mengolini says she has been the target of intense online harassment, including an incident in which President Javier Milei shared a deepfake video depicting her in a sexual act. (Photo: Nora Lezano)

Argentinian journalist waiting to fight President Milei in court after deepfake pornography bullying scandal

Journalist Julia Mengolini, founder and director of radio station Futuröck, caught widespread attention last summer after suing Argentinian President Javier Milei and more than 20 people connected to his administration, accusing them of “unlawful association, embezzlement of public funds, coercive threats,” and “public incitement to hatred.” A judge has yet to take up the case, Mengolini told CPJ….

Read More ›

Exiled Nicaraguans hold photographs of missing and imprisoned relatives during a Mass in their honor, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Diaz)

‘They are hunting journalists’: Nicaragua’s covert repression tactics strike fear beyond borders

An estimated 268 Nicaraguan journalists have fled the Central American country for exile, many settling in the neighboring Costa Rica, to escape what CPJ’s research has documented to be a government-backed system of political repression and judicial harassment against media outlets that often prevents journalists, fearing for their families, from reporting the truth. Yet for…

Read More ›

Former police officer Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, leader of the 'G9' gang alliance, speaks during a press conference in Delmas 6, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

‘Disguised dictatorship’: A fight for government transparency amid Haiti’s insecurity

Read this story en français in collaboration with AyiboPost. Violent attacks and threats waged by a coalition of militarized gangs are among the many risks Haitian journalists face to report the news amid intensifying insecurity in the country’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Yet as a rotating cast of transitional leaders hope to restore order across the Caribbean nation,…

Read More ›

Widow of murdered reporter Dom Phillips empowers young Indigenous leaders to defend the rainforest

After British climate journalist Dom Phillips was found dead in Amazonas’ state Javary Valley region on June 15, 2022, his widow, Alessandra Sampaio, set out to finish his most important work, compiled in the new book “How to Save the Amazon.” Now she is helping prepare a new generation of Indigenous leaders to continue their fight to defend the…

Read More ›

On the evening of July 5, journalist Gustavo Chicangana Álvarez and his wife were leaving their home in San José del Guaviare when they were confronted by a man with a revolver. (Photo: John Otis)

The attempted murder of a veteran journalist stirs fear, defiance in Colombia 

Wanted Colombian rebel leader Aníbal Hernández Garavito was irate when he called into the local Es el Colmo (“It’s the last straw”) radio program at 5:48 a.m. on March 14, 2025. His voice raised, Hernández slammed the station’s critical coverage of his guerrilla group, but show host Gustavo Chicangana Álvarez refused to be bullied. Hernández, who had a  $13,000 bounty on…

Read More ›

2 journalists, 2 attacks, a fight for justice as Bolivia enters new era

A barrage of bullets was waiting for ATB camera operator Percy Suárez and six other journalists when they arrived at the Las Londras ranch in Bolivia’s Guarayos province October 28, 2021, around 852 kilometers outside of the capital, La Paz. The journalists, flown in by a local farmer association, came to cover a land dispute…

Read More ›

Supporters of Bolivia's former President Evo Morales protest outside the Voter Registration Office after the constitutional court upheld a ban preventing Morales from running again in Bolivia's upcoming presidential election, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Patricia Pinto

Journalists fear volatile Bolivia elections may escalate press attacks

For over two decades, Bolivian journalists have endured intimidation, legal harassment, and violence from political actors intent on silencing dissent. Now, journalists fear those attacks may intensify as the country races toward a hotly contested presidential election, in which no clear frontrunner has emerged. “We’re not choosing between democracy and authoritarianism” said reporter Rodrigo Fernández from Radio Erbol, one of…

Read More ›

Peruvian journalist Gastón Medina a victim of violence he denounced

Peruvian journalist Gastón Medina Sotomayor did not hold back in his last TV news broadcast before he was shot dead this year. Addressing the viewers of Cadena Sur, his TV and radio station in the south-central city of Ica, Medina called local authorities “scoundrels” for buying defective garbage trucks. He criticized cost overruns for a…

Read More ›