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18the newspaper Crónica, Mosle, Molinari and Downes work for for thestate news agency Télam and Vaschetto of the website Malvinoticias.They were attacked on 5 June 2012 in the Malvinas Argentinas districtof Buenos Aires. The journalists were covering a demonstration outsidethe Caludio Zin Hospital over the death of a young girl through allegedmedical negligence when they came across a hostile group. The assailantsclaimed to be supporters of the mayor of the district. A police patrol thatarrived at the scene took no action according to journalists who spoke toReporters Without Borders. Mosle was thrown on to the hood of a policecar and beaten with sticks. He lost two teeth and suffered multiple injuries.Threatened* Omar MILLALONCO: journalist for infoplatense.com and his partnerLilen MERCADO (f), a journalism student, were threatened on 13February 2012 by five armed individuals on motorcycles and wearinghooded tops. Millalonco and Mercado were saying goodbye to friendsat the entrance to their home in La Plata, when they were approached bythe armed individuals. One of them yelled, “Stop messing around. If youkeep talking we’ll shoot you.” They entered the hallway to Millalonco’sapartment and broke a glass in the door, but the journalist and Mercadowere able to take shelter inside without being physically attacked.Millalonco said that he did not know why he had been threatened, but thathe had reported the incident to the Number 9 police station in La Plata.Harassed*Laura VILCHE (f): reporter for the daily newspaper La Capital deRosario, in Santa Fe province, was threatened on 15 February 2012 by agroup of individuals who were connected with an unauthorized racetrackthat she was reporting on, and where a young man had recently diedduring a race. On leaving the scene in her car, the journalist and hercamera man were prevented from driving away by groups of men in othercars who proceeded to intimidate them. Police later arrived and detainedthose who were harassing the journalist.BOLIVIAKilled (Motive Unknown)*Verónica PEÑASCO LAYME (f) and Victor Hugo PEÑASCOLAYME: journalists and brother and sister, were murdered on 25February 2012 in La Paz, Bolivia. Both were strangled. The motive forthe killings is unknown, although it has been suggested that they mighthave been the victims of a gang from El Alto (a neighboring city to LaPaz) because of the manner in which they were killed: there have been anumber of strangulation attacks in El Alto, the city where both journalistslived. The two were Aymara Indians and reported in their native language.Update: On 7 March 2012, two men were arrested as suspects: FélixYupanqui, nicknamed “El Matón”, and Adalid Mamani, alias “El Botija.”They allegedly led a gang that was known to rob and strangle its victims.A third man is also sought.On trial*Rogelio PELÁEZ: editor of monthly Larga Vista. A judge has sentencedhim to two years and six months in jail for the crimes of “defamation,libel and spreading insults” for his use of metaphors in his articles abouta lawyer who had collected excessively high legal fees in March 2012.The journalist had used expressions such as “un robo con la ley en lamano” –roughly meaning “using the law to steal” – on the cover page ofthe paper referring to the lawyer.Judicial concern*Alfonso PRUDENCIO CLAURE: a columnist and humorist knownunder a pseudonym ‘Paulovich’ who was given an award (PremioLibertad by Asociación Nacional de la Prensa) for his work in 2008.He was threatened in April 2012 with an offence of “defamation andslander” by an ex-minister Walter Delgadillo for questioning the use ofstate resources in social housing. Delgadillo was offended by Claure’ssatirical column that referred to “social housing that was never built.”This satirical piece was based on an investigation conducted on socialhousing by an UN representative. The investigation found out that only5% of the planned 3,757 flats were completed in three years despite the7.8 million dollars that were invested in the project.BRAZILKilled*Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues (known as Paulo ROCARO):editor of the local daily Jornal Da Praça and the news website MercosulNews, was shot to death in Ponta Porá on the night of 12 February 2012.He had been driving home when he was attacked by two armed menriding a motorcycle. They fired at least five bullets into him. Rocaro, 51,reported on politics. According to reports, he had been critical of the localmayor and had publicly lent his support to a rival mayoral candidate. Onthe night he was killed, the journalist had been returning home after ameeting with the opposition candidate. The killing took place near theParaguayan border, a region of Brazil known for organized criminalactivity and for political corruption. Police are reportedly investigatingthe crime as a possible contract killing, and are looking into politicalmotives, among others.*Mario RANDOLFO MARQUES LOPES: editor-in-chief of the newswebsite Vassouras na Net, was abducted from his home on 8 February2012 in the city of Barra do Piraí in Rio de Janeiro state (along with hiscompanion). Both were found dead the following day. They had beenshot to death. Randolfo reported on local corruption and had survived atleast one attempt on his life in recent years. Randolfo, 50, had frequentlyaccused local officials of corruption in articles on his website, accordingto news reports. His most recent article on his website accused localjudges and courts of being corrupt and too powerful. Randolfo hadbeen attacked before. In July 2011, an unidentified gunman entered theVassouras na Net newsroom, in the city of Vassouras, and shot Randolfofive times in the head, which left him in a coma for three days.*Décio SÁ: reporter for local newspaper O Estado do Maranhão andblogger at Blog do Décio, was shot to death in a bar on 23 April 2012in what pólice say was a contract killing. Sá reported on politics andcrime. He was shot 6 times in the head and back. According to colleaguesat O Estado do Maranhão, Sá’s reporting, both for his newspaper andfor his blog, had made him several enemies. His blog was one of themost popular in Maranhão. The pólice arrested seven people in June2012, including a businessman (a former local councillor), and a policeofficer. Jhonathan Silva, one of those arrested, reportedly confessed to thekilling. Police believe that the motive for the killing was Sá’s reporting,especially his reports on the businessman’s alleged connection to loansharkingand racketeering. It is unclear whether the others arrested havebeen charged or released. PEN is seeking an update.