(FLIP/IFEX) – On 6 August 2002, an “El Tiempo Café” newspaper news crew was kidnapped in the municipality of Mistrato, Risaralda department. Abducted were legal affairs editor Iván Noguera, 47 years old, 28-year-old photographer Héctor Fabio Zamora, and their driver, John Henry Gomez, 34 years old. They were released on the following day but did […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 6 August 2002, an “El Tiempo Café” newspaper news crew was kidnapped in the municipality of Mistrato, Risaralda department. Abducted were legal affairs editor Iván Noguera, 47 years old, 28-year-old photographer Héctor Fabio Zamora, and their driver, John Henry Gomez, 34 years old. They were released on the following day but did not arrive in Pereira, where the newspaper’s offices are located, until 8 August.
The news crew was travelling together with indigenous guide Embera Chamí, who lives in the mountainous region of Mistrato, when they were intercepted on the highway by strongly armed individuals, members of the Frente Aurelio Rodríguez division of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) guerrillas.
The guerrillas forced the three individuals to walk into the mountains for two hours, where they were held overnight until they were released the next morning. The guerrillas reproached the journalists for the way in which the media refer to them as terrorists.
This is the first kidnapping of journalists in a number of years to occur in the country’s coffee growing region (Eje Cafetero). There is concern that the incident could contribute to an atmosphere of self-censorship due to fear of reprisals from the armed groups.
Noguera is a veteran journalist who has been working for “El Tiempo” for 10 years. Zamora has been “El Tiempo Caf锑s photographer for more than a year.
According to the newspaper’s director, Luis Francisco Arias Bonilla, the guerrillas did not make requests in exchange for releasing their hostages, nor did they request that a press release be published.
