(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 30 May 2002 IAPA press release: The IAPA asks Colombia to clear up aggressions against freedom of the press Miami (May 30, 2002) The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has publicly requested that the Government of Colombia investigate and take appropriate measures to punish those responsible for threats against […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 30 May 2002 IAPA press release:
The IAPA asks Colombia to clear up aggressions against freedom of the press
Miami (May 30, 2002)
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has publicly requested that the Government of Colombia investigate and take appropriate measures to punish those responsible for threats against journalists in the country. The organization further urged the government to study the implementation of safety mechanisms to guarantee the practice of the profession and to avoid having journalists flee the country more and more frequently.
According to the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in Colombia, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a Colombian governmental agency dedicated to helping journalists at risk received 15 requests for protection in May, while other journalists were kidnapped, murdered or fled into exile.
The Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, stated that, “the solving of murders, the finding of the origin of threats and kidnappings, as well as the punishment of those responsible, is imperative in order to ensure that the free exercise of journalism without fear can serve as a catalyst for opinion making in a democratic society.”
“The continuous reports of threats, murders and acts of harassment against the press are possible because they have been unable to punish those responsible for such violence,” stated Molina, director of Ahora magazine in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Molina referred to several cases in the last few weeks, among them that of journalist Carlos Pulgarín, who on May 14 fled the country for the third time because of death threats, allegedly by members of the Army. Threats against the journalist have even continued in the country where he and his family have sought refuge.
Pulgarín was teaching classes at La Sabana University in Bogota before fleeing the country. Previously, he was a correspondent for the newspaper El Tiempo, province of Cordoba, northwest Colombia, but was transferred to Bogota because of threats.
Another similar case is that of Carlos Lajud, a journalist from CITY TV television station, who also fled the country recently because of death threats. Lajud is the son of journalist Carlos Lajud Catalán, murdered on April 19, 1993, and whose case was investigated by the IAPA and presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Journalist Ramon Vásquez, assistant Nidia Alvarez and driver Vladimir Rebolledo, from Hoy Diario newspaper in Magdalena, in northern Colombia, where detained on May 16 by the Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC). The guerrillas released the assistant one day later, but held the driver and the journalist captive until May 28.
On May 14, Víctor Omar Acosta was murdered in the town of Yumbo, in Valle del Cauca province, in the southeastern part of the country. According to police, an unidentified person shot him in the head and legs. Acosta previously worked for Occidente and El País newspapers and Todelar radio station, and was press secretary for the Mayor’s Office. Although he had not practiced journalism for the past two years, his family believes that his death could be related to charges he made against local corruption.
