Brazil

(IFJ/IFEX) – According to information distributed by the Brazilian National Newspaper Association (Asociacion Nacional de Diarios de Brasil, ANJ), Judge Adair Longhini of the First Electoral Zone of Río Branco, prohibited the press from the department of Acre from publishing any information on the electoral campaigns of candidates in the upcoming municipal elections. Judge Longhini […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – On 13 June 2000, the National Federation of Journalists (Federacion Nacional de Periodistas, FENAJ) reported an attempt against the Brazilian journalists’ union movement which was perpetrated by the director of the daily “Folha de Londrina”, in Londrina. José Eduardo de Andrade Vieira, a former senator and owner of Bamerindus Bank, threatened to dismiss […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – On 10 May 2000, the National Journalists’ Federation (Federacion Nacional de Periodistas, FENAJ) reported that journalist Claudia Bastos, a reporter with the station TV Tapajos, which is affiliated with Rede Globo in Santarém, interior region of Pará, has been receiving death threats since the end of April. Unknown individuals also illegally entered her […]

In a 2 March 2000 letter to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the IFJ expressed its alarm over the death threat directed against journalist Almir Carvalho, editor of the daily “A Palabra”, by the prefect of Alegre, Gilvan Dutra. The IFJ was informed by the Federaçao Nacional do Jornalistas (FENAJ), that the journalist was threatened because […]

The following is a 25 February 2000 IAPA press release: IAPA PROTESTS ASSAULT ON BRAZILIAN NEWSMEN MIAMI, Florida (Feb. 25) – The Inter American Press Association today expressed outrage at the beating of three newspaper employees in Brazil and called on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and punish those responsible. […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – In early January 2000, Federal Judge Jose Marcos Lunadelli ordered the closure of 2,000 community radio stations in the state of Sao Paulo, to take effect by 6 February. In a decision made days later, the same judge announced that radio stations which refuse to close their doors will have to pay a […]

On Monday 3 January 2000, the Rio de Janeiro Professional Journalists Union informed the human rights section for Latin America of the IFJ that a number of photojournalists were assaulted. Fernando Bizerra of “Jornal do Brasil”, Edivaldo Ferreira and José Paulo Lacerda of “Agencia Estado”, Sheila Chagas, freelance journalist with “Editora Abril” and Rosa Costa […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Mário Covas, RSF is “protesting the assassination attempt on the life of Nelson Gonçalves of the daily ‘O Jornal da Cidade de Bauru’ (300 km north-west of São Paulo).” In the letter, Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, “considers the assassination attempt on the journalist to be a serious violation […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an open letter, sent by RSF on 2 October 1998, to candidates in the Brazilian presidential elections (the first ballot of which took place on 4 October 1998), asking that they respect freedom of the press: **New case, plus updates to IFEX alerts as noted in text** On the eve […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 April 1998, RSF expressed its profound indignation over the murder of journalist Manoel Leal de Oliveira (for more information on this case see IFEX alert of 1 April 1998). According to the information at RSF’s disposal, Manoel Leal de Oliveira, director of the weekly “A Regiao”, was killed after returning to […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – According to the Pulsar news agency, Protestant Church leaders in Brazil asked legislators who adhere to that faith to fight to amend the bill on radio which is in the final approval stages in Congress. Also, Dalva de Lurdes Pereira, Secretary of the National Catholic Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (Asociacion Nacional Catolica […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – On 27 January 1998, the Education Commission of the Brazilian Senate approved, without ammendments, the bill which will regulate community radio stations. The text was approved in the same form it arrived from the House of Congress. If it is maintained without any modifications in the plenary, it will be sent rapidly for […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – The Union of Broadcasting Networks for Democracry (UNIRR)/AMARC-Brasil reports that, on 14 January 1998, all of the equipment of community radio 98.5FM and documents of the Brazilian Association of Community Radio Stations (Abraco) were seized from their shared offices in Brasilia by representatives of the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL). Accompanied by agents of […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – Federal court judge Eloy Bernst Justo has ordered the closure of the four- month- old community radio station Sambaqui FM. The station broadcasts in Arroilo do Sal, a community of 7,500 people on the northern coast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The town has no other communications media. The judge’s […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – Mariza Romao, who works for Globo Television Network affiliate TV Liberal, fled Maraba, a town in the northern state of Para, on 1 December 1997 after receiving a series of death threats. Romao reported on the April 1996 massacre in Eldorado de Carajas, a town close to Maraba, in which nineteen landless workers […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Edgard Lopes de Faria, head of the local radio station Capital and a presenter on the television station TV Record, was killed on 29 October 1997 in Campo Grande, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, as he was on his way to the radio station’s offices to host the program […]