22 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
A journalist with newspaper El Mío, was beaten and then detained as he left the newspapers premises in Anzoátegui, northeastern Venezuela. Óscar Tarazona was getting into a car when he spotted the police officers, Tarazona claims he walked over, identified himself as a journalist, and officers proceeded to beat him, handcuff him and take him to a police station. The initial attack was caught on video. Tarazona was released and subsequently filed a formal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office. The state’s chief of police, Francisco Ortiz, said that he stood behind the officers.
16 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
Dominican police have identified the individuals they believe plotted and carried out the 2 August 2011 abduction and murder of journalist José Agustín Silvestre de los Santos, saying the motive was an article by the reporter linking the alleged mastermind to criminal activities.
03 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
TV reporter José Agustín Silvestre was kidnapped, shot and killed on 2nd August in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Local papers have claimed his murder is connected to accusations he had made regarding corruption and local delinquency on his programme, The Voice of Truth. Silvestre had also served a prison sentence in May for defamation and slander after accusing a city prosecutor of having drug trafficking connections. The Inter American Press Association called 2011 “the most tragic year in the last two decades for Latin American press” in a report published last month. Silvestre is the 20th reporter to have been killed in the region this year.
03 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
Carlos Walker, news editor for the site 0223.com.ar, was beaten and shot in the leg on 29th July in Mar del Plata, eastern Argentina, while reportedly photographing posters that featured political propaganda. In another episode in the country, journalist Leo Graciarena and graphic reporter Francisco Guillén, of the newspaper La Capital, were attacked by armed individuals while investigating a poor settlement in the city of Rosario, the paper said.
