Reporters and photographers working for several news media were attacked by police at Apacheta (20 km outside La Paz) on 15 April while covering clashes between police and members of the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), which is demanding a wage increase. Red Uno cameraman Israel Gutiérrez, Bolivisión cameraman Carlos Saavedra and Página Siete photographer Henry Ponce were attacked by police officers. The cameras of Gutiérrez and Saavedra were broken, while the...

A 20-year statute of limitations will apply from this weekend to any criminal prosecution for the 1991 murders of El Espectador reporters Julio Daniel Chaparro and Jorge Enrique Torres, yet again highlighting the problem of impunity in Colombia. Chaparro and Torres were murdered on 24 April 1991 while investigating the impact of a 1988 paramilitary massacre in Segovia, in the northwestern department of Antioquia. Although 20 years have gone by, the investigation being conducted by the Human...

In the opinion of Defense Minister Carlos Mata Figueroa, the comprehensive plan on military education is a paper for the army only (Photo: Angel Dejesús) Interview All that fuss over Resolution 017621 which contemplates the Comprehensive Plan on Military Education of the National Armed Forces (PIEM) does not matter a damn to General-in-chief Carlos Mata Figueroa, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense. "That is premised on our laws; it is still revised and it is an internal...

The largest ever haul of ETA explosives has been made by the Spanish police following the arrest of the brothers Aitor and Igor Esnaola. The two were arrested in the town of Legorreta, in the Tolosa area of Guipúzcoa, and it was in a local country house where the explosives have been found. Between 850 and 900 kilos of explosives has been recovered, most of it ammonium nitrate and PETN which is from the nitro-glycerine family. The two are now known to be members of an ETA logistical...

Spanish Crown Prince Felipe restated his nation’s support for an independent Palestinian state during talks on Tuesday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a local news agency said. Prince Felipe, accompanied by his wife, Princess Letizia, met Abbas at his presidential headquarters in Ramallah as part of a tour of Israel and the West Bank. The prince reiterated “Spain’s position in support of the peace process and the right of the Palestinian people to establish an...

Ecuador on Tuesday told Washington's envoy Heather Hodges to leave the Andean country over diplomatic cables reporting alleged police corruption that were released by WikiLeaks. "The serious thing is that WikiLeaks said they (the U.S. embassy) have informants in the police and armed forces... This is espionage," Correa said in a radio interview, adding the embassy had a duty to inform his government if it had evidence of a crime, but had not done so. Correa is an ally of left-wing...

, a courageous blog about drug cartel activities, government repression and police corruption in northern Mexico, is the jury choice in the “Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom” category of this year’s BOBs (Best of Blogs competition), organized by the German radio station Deutsche Welle. The blog’s author, Spanish journalist Judith Torrea, was chosen from 11 finalists by an international jury consisting of bloggers and a Reporters Without Borders representative....

Peasant, trade union and indigenous groups and affiliated news media are designated as “permanent military targets” in three leaflets apparently issued by paramilitary groups - the Black Eagles, “Rastrojos” and United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) - that have been circulating in the southwestern city of Popayán and the surrounding Cauca region since late February. The latest leaflet, dated late March and signed by the AUC’s central column, names 11...

Iran has expanded its ties in Latin American beyond its close relationship with Venezuela, a top U.S. commander said Tuesday as he described a troubling development that the United States is watching closely. Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said Iran has nearly doubled the number of embassies in the region, from six in 2005 to 10 in 2010 while also building cultural centers in 17 countries. Last year, Iran also has hosted heads of state from three countries -...

The board of directors of the Venezuelan National Press Workers' Association delivered on Wednesday a letter to the attention of to Florencia Saintout, the dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication, Argentina's La Plata National University to refute the granting of the Rodolfo Walsh Journalism Prize to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. The guild "is astounded to learn that the Rodolfo Walsh Journalism Prize of the La Plata National University was conferred upon...