Bogotá, July 1, 2002—The owner of a radio station, who recently had alerted the public to the presence of paramilitary fighters in the region, was shot and killed in northeastern Colombia. Efraín Varela Noriega, owner of Radio Meridiano70, was driving home from a university graduation in Arauca Department on the afternoon of June 28 when…
New York, June 20, 2002—In a letter sent today to Mario Dupuy, Haiti’s Secretary of State for Communications, the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concerns about the government’s plan to develop a legally enforceable code of ethics for the press. In the letter, CPJ asked for more details about the proposed legislation and suggested opening…
Port-au-Prince, June 13, 2002—After a three-day fact-finding mission, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that journalists in Haiti face a troubling atmosphere of intimidation and fear. Haitian journalists have told CPJ of violent attacks and threats that largely remain unpunished. Some have felt obliged to censor themselves, go into hiding,…
New York, June 11, 2002—A Brazilian judge has granted an injunction banning the country’s media from publishing any information regarding proceedings against another judge. This is the second case of prior censorship in Brazil within two weeks. On May 23, Judge Zélia Maria Antunes Alves, of the São Paulo State Court of Justice, granted an…
New York, June 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the June 2 disappearance of Tim Lopes, an investigative reporter with TV Globo in Brazil. According to news reports, he was last seen on assignment in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, at an impoverished community, known as a favela. On June…
389 journalists killed between 1992 and 2001, most murdered with impunity New York, June 4, 2002–The majority of journalists killed in the line of duty during the last decade were murdered because of their reporting, concludes a study released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists. This comprehensive analysis of journalists killed between 1992 and…
New York, May 31, 2002—A three-judge appeals panel yesterday sentenced two men to a 13-year prison term for the 1998 murder of Philip True, a Mexico City correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News. The unanimous ruling overturned an August 2001 verdict that had acquitted the two men. The men were found guilty of “intentional homicide,”…
New York, May 24, 2002—A Brazilian judge has censored CartaCapital, a weekly magazine based in the city of São Paulo. The magazine said it will fight the decision. According to press reports in Brazil and court documents, copies of which were obtained by CPJ, Judge Marcelo Oliveira da Silva of the 21st Civil Chamber of…
Bogotá, May 24, 2002–The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have demanded that a newspaper in northern Colombia pay the equivalent of US$250,000 and publish a four-page communiqué to secure the release of a reporter and another employee who were kidnapped last week, the newspaper’s director said yesterday. Ulilo Acevedo, founder and director of…