Brazilian drug traffickers fired shots at a TV Globo helicopter in Rio de Janeiro last week. The TV crew was covering a police operation taking place in the favelas (shantytowns) in the São Carlos region of Rio de Janeiro, when it came under attack.
During the operation, one drug trafficker was killed and three others were injured.
The attack forced the pilot to make an emergency landing at Jacarepaguá airport. Reporter Karina Borges, operator Roberto Mello Reis and pilot Antonio Ramos did not suffer any injuries.
The National Association of Newspapers (abbreviated to ANJ in Portuguese) condemned the attack and said that it should be considered an assault on freedom of the press.
On another news, the home of Orley Antunes, owner and director of Morretes Notícia, a local daily published in the southern state of Paraná, was targeted in a bomb attack on the night of 17 January 2011.
According to Antunes, the front door was opened and the bomb was launched towards the stairs that lead to the second floor.
Antunes, who is 60 years old, recalls two other attacks, when bombs were set off in front of his house.
He says he is “bothering” local politicians through information published both in his paper and on his blog ( http://www.orleyantunes.blogspot.com ). He says, though, that he does not know who might be responsible for the attack.
Police in Morretes are still investigating the incident and have no more details on the attack.
