Inter American Press Association

IAPA today expressed outrage at an assault on Mexican newspaper El Mañana, whose plant, located in the city of Nuevo Laredo, in the northern state of Tamaulipas, was attacked on Friday by assailants shooting and hurling an unidentified type of explosive device.

Alfredo Villatoro, with the Tegucigalpa radio station HRN, was driving at 4:45 a.m. on his way to the station, where he is in charge of the newscast “Diario Matutino” (Morning News), when he was intercepted and kidnapped by at least six assailants who were riding in two pickup trucks; he had reported receiving death threats.

IAPA voices concerns on the direct and subtle economic, legal, and judicial means used against the news media in a number of countries in the region that result in prior restraint and self-censorship, harming not only the news media itself, but most importantly, weakening the public’s right to receive information.

The ruling by the Inter-American Human Rights Court requires the government of the Dominican Republic to “establish the truth of the events in question” and “punish those responsible” for the forced disappearance 18 years ago of journalist Narciso González Medina.

A car bomb exploded a short distance from the paper’s offices, slightly injuring five people who were walking nearby and damaging several vehicles.

The channel’s lawyer anticipated that there were actions remaining to be resolved in the First Court of Administrative Litigation, such as another appeal, meaning that the fine was not yet enforceable.

Raúl Régulo Garza Quirino, a reporter with “La Última Palabra”, was reportedly followed by armed men traveling in another vehicle.

IAPA concluded that this was one of the most “challenging and tragic” years for the countries of the Americas and reaffirmed its commitment to confront the next challenges.