That's the assessment of Catalina Botero, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States, who opened a roundtable on the press freedom situation  in the region.

"The impunity is brutal," she says. "the authorities don't see what they don't want to see."

The violence in Latin America is "orchestrated by organised crime that has a very large influence on the state," Ms Botero says. Because of the inability to authorities to prosecute and bring perpetrators to justice, "we require special bodies of investigation."

She said the OAS was trying to fulfill this role, working in Mexico, trying to work in Honduras, and elsewhere.