(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, journalist Bernabe Cortes was murdered on the morning of 19 May 1998, by several gunmen in Cali. Cortes was a reporter with the nightly newsprogram Noticias CVN, broadcast on the Telepacifico network. He reported frequently on such sensitive topics as drug trafficking, corruption, and recent negotiations between the Colombian Revolutionary […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, journalist Bernabe Cortes was murdered on the
morning of 19 May 1998, by several gunmen in Cali. Cortes was a reporter
with the nightly newsprogram Noticias CVN, broadcast on the Telepacifico
network. He reported frequently on such sensitive topics as drug
trafficking, corruption, and recent negotiations between the Colombian
Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and authorities over soldiers held by the
Colombian guerrillas.
According to local journalists, several men opened fire on Cortes at 11:30
a.m. (local time) as he was riding in a taxi near his office, killing both
the journalist and the taxi driver. The assailants fled in a Mazda
automobile and later changed to another car. The Mazda is currently in the
possession of the Public Ministry’s office.
Cortes was killed while on his way to an appointment with an individual who
had paged him earlier in the morning with “important news.” The 41-year-old
journalist is survived by his wife and two children, according to colleagues
at CVN.
CPJ is currently investigating the murders of five journalists killed in
Colombia in 1998 alone. CPJ has concluded that two of them, Cortes and
Nelson Carvajal, gunned down in Huila Department on 16 April 1998, were
murdered in reprisal for their journalistic work (for more information on
this case see IFEX alert of 23 April 1998).
CPJ is dismayed by the unrelenting violence against journalists in Colombia.
Because a free press is an essential component of a just society, the
organisation believes that those who kill journalists in order to silence
them commit a crime against all Colombians.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to President Samper:
responsible for the murder of Bernabe Cortes are brought to justice
Appeals To
His Excellency Ernesto Samper
President of Colombia
Santa Fe de Bogota
Colombia
Fax: +57 1 289 3377/ 286 7434/ 286 7324/ 287 7937/ 284 2186
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
