(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 6 May 1999 IAPA press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 19 October, 16 June, 23 March, 4 February 1998, 21 November and 21 March 1997** Bogotá, 6 May An IAPA high level mission met with President Andrés Pastrana and high level officials of the Colombian government, to express their […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 6 May 1999 IAPA press release:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 19 October, 16 June, 23 March, 4 February 1998, 21
November and 21 March 1997**
Bogotá, 6 May
An IAPA high level mission met with President Andrés Pastrana and high level
officials of the Colombian government, to express their preoccupation over
the assassination of journalists and the general state of press freedom in
the country.
After the meetings, IAPA’s president, Jorge Fascetto, stated that
preliminary results were auspicious based on the information that was
obtained and the authorities’ commitments to address the aforementioned
problems.
“We are leaving from Colombia with optimism and high expectations after the
authorities’ positive response,” said Fascetto, “El Día” newspaper in La
Plata, Argentina.
The high level IAPA mission visited Colombia to discuss with authorities
crimes against journalists – thirteen of which took place last year – and
the state of insecurity that they have to face, especially in the country’s
interior regions. IAPA made particular mention of the cases of journalists
Jairo Elías Márquez and Gerardo Bedoya, assassinated in 1997 without any of
the responsible parties having been captured.
The hemispheric press organisation also expressed to the authorities its
uneasiness over certain unclear aspects of the political reform project,
that will include the right to answer to a charge in favour of political
leaders during electoral campaigns.
The IAPA delegation was headed by its president, Jorge Fascetto, and was
made up of Danilo Arbilla, second vice president; Robert Cox, president of
the Freedom of the Press and Information Committee; Batolomé Mitre, member
of the Executive Committee; Ernesto Santos Calderon, regional vice president
of the Press Freedom Committee for Colombia; Ruddy González, regional vice
president of the Press Freedom Committee for the Dominican Republic and
Haiti; Julio Muñoz, executive director and Carlos Molina, coordinator of
Press Freedom.
President Pastrana affirmed his commitment in support of the clarification
of unresolved assassination cases, which he called scandalous, and in the
implementation of a new system of protection for journalists, particularly
for those in the provinces. He also stated that he would take the necessary
action to clarify the effects of the legislative reform which, he said, does
not affect the media.
Pastrana seemed willing to do what he could to support the Public
Prosecutor’s Office in its investigation of the aforementioned crimes. He
was angry and condemned the threats and attacks against journalists Plinio
Apuleyo Mendoza and Alfredo Molano, who is currently living in exile in
Spain.
The meeting went very well and IAPA president Jorge Fascetto appeared
satisfied with President Pastrana’s receptiveness to the defence of press
values. The president of the Freedom of the Press and Information Committee,
Robert Cox, applauded this decision which, as he stated, “ensures a more
complete freedom of the press.”
The delegation also met with the Minister of the Interior, Néstor Martínez
Neira, who gave information on specific means for the protection of
journalists as relates to his ministerial post. He said that a separate
department was being planned that would back a program that offers direct
protection and assistance to journalists who are confronted by the enemies
of press freedom. Martínez Neira committed himself to promoting changes in
the law governing the right to answer to a charge which would apply to
national media.
The IAPA delegation also met with Attorney General Alfonso Gomez and his
staff, who provided detailed information on the investigations they are
carrying out on the cases mentioned by IAPA – in particular the Márquez and
Bedoya case.
Robert Cox noted “although there is a lot left to do but this time we are
going away empty handed” and he acknowledged the efficiency of the
investigations.
The Public Prosecutor also committed to creating a special investigation
unit dedicated exclusively to investigating cases of assassinated
journalists -an initiative that had previously been suggested by IAPA. He
also agreed to an information exchange between the Public Prosecutor’s
office and IAPA.
The meeting helped dispel doubts over the secrecy that had added up and that
could, in preliminary analysis, be said to affect Colombian press freedom.
