(FLIP/IFEX) – Edwin Alberto Moreno Mojica, a journalist and host of the “Informativo 88.3” radio programme, broadcast by a community radio station in Tame municipality, Arauca department, northeastern Colombia, has been forced to leave the region as a result of threats he was receiving. On 12 January 2005, before the broadcast of his programme, which […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – Edwin Alberto Moreno Mojica, a journalist and host of the “Informativo 88.3” radio programme, broadcast by a community radio station in Tame municipality, Arauca department, northeastern Colombia, has been forced to leave the region as a result of threats he was receiving.
On 12 January 2005, before the broadcast of his programme, which airs from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. (local time), Moreno answered a telephone call in which he was told, “Shut up or we will shut you up.” At noon on the same day, the journalist received a threatening message.
On 14 January, Moreno received another phone call at the radio station. The caller reiterated the previous threat and added, “this is the second warn, the third will involve regrettable consequences for you.”
The threats appear to be related to Moreno’s coverage of the Dignidad por Tame (Dignity for Tame) movement, which is calling for the dismissal of Tame’s mayor, Alfredo Iván Guzmán Taffur.
Moreno Mojica spoke to the radio station’s manager, Octavio Pérez, about the threats and they decided to proceed with greater caution in their coverage of the movement’s work. However, on 29 January, Jaime Orlando Reuto, one the movement’s leaders and a former mayoral candidate, was assassinated. Reuto was shot during a meeting that Moreno had planned to cover, but was unable to attend. Moreno reported his concerns regarding his safety to the Ombudsman’s Office and was included in a Tame security programme. However, in the end, he decided to leave the region.
Tame’s ombudsman, Manuel Pérez Rueda, told FLIP that the threats may be related to the journalist’s extensive coverage of the Dignidad por Tame movement’s activities. Another of the movement’s leaders, Ramón Márquez, also believes that the threats may be linked the Dignidad por Tame coverage.
Moreno Mojica told FLIP that he spoke about his situation at a 10 February meeting organised by the Organisation of American States’s (OAS) Verification Commission, headed by Sergio Caramagna. He indicated that he also asked for the establishment of an OAS office in Tame to oversee the demobilisation of members of the United Self-Defence Groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC) in the regions. The journalist thinks that this may have increased his risk level.
Tame has one of the highest homicide rates in Colombia. The municipality’s urban area is controlled by paramilitary groups, while there is a strong guerilla presence in the rural areas. The ombudsman noted that a deterioration in public safety, the economic situation in the area and a number of other factors has made the work of journalists very difficult, and that the population in general lives in a state of fear.
FLIP considers the threats against Moreno to be a serious violation of press freedom, particularly since the journalist’s departure from the region has lead to the cancellation of the only radio programme that provided information to the municipality’s residents.
For further information, contact Juliana Cano Nieto, coordinator at Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), Calle 119B, No. 5-38, Bogotá, Colombia S.A, tel: +571 400 96 77, +571 400 96 78, fax: +571 481 63 48, e-mail: redalerta@cable.net.co, flip@cable.net.co, Internet: http://www.flip.org.co
