(FLIP/IFEX) – Journalist Hollman Morris, director of the television programme “Contravía”, has complained to FLIP about the circulation of a video from an organization calling itself the “Social Front for Peace” (“Frente Social por la Paz”, FSP), accusing him of being an international spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – Journalist Hollman Morris, director of the television programme “Contravía”, has complained to FLIP about the circulation of a video from an organization calling itself the “Social Front for Peace” (“Frente Social por la Paz”, FSP), accusing him of being an international spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), the country’s largest guerrilla group.
The journalist was informed of the fact that the video was circulating by the human rights group Centre for Research and Popular Education (Centro de Investigaciones y Educación Popular, CINEP). CINEP was concerned because its information database director Father Javier Giraldo is also accused in the video of being a spokesman for the FARC.
The video has apparently been being distributed at the National University of Colombia’s Bogota campus, and in the regional departments of Sucre and Córdoba; the latter is the site of peace dialogues between the government and the right wing paramilitary umbrella group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).
The 13-minute video, which FLIP has viewed, was made in September 2005. A diatribe against the FARC, it includes footage never previously seen of interviews with FARC leaders, and of their training activities and illegal actions. The majority of the scenes appear to be from private recordings, since little material from media outlets is used.
The video ends with a reference to the “FARC’s international spokespersons”, with images of Father Giraldo, Morris, former Apartadó mayor Gloria Cuartas and presidential candidate Álvaro Leyva.
Morris told FLIP that this new incident is linked to a series of threats he has received over the last few years. He also indicated that the common link with Cuartas and Father Giraldo is that they have all been investigating and reporting on the February 2005 massacre committed in San José de Apartadó.
The Organization of American Status (OAS) indicates in its latest report that FSP graffiti and pamphlets have appeared in various municipalities in the Valle del Cauca and Sucre departments, calling for the society to “overthrow terrorism”, alluding to various attacks by the FARC.
An October 2005 issue of “El Tiempo” newspaper reported on the appearance of the FSP, “a new generation of paramilitary groups, in at least eight departments in the country.” The newspaper also indicated that the phenomenon could be considered as redrawing the map of paramilitary influence in the country (see a summary of this case at: http://www.flip.org.co).
FLIP condemns this video stigmatising Morris’s work and also considers it a new death threat against the journalist. FLIP urges the authorities to investigate the origins of the video, as well as the FSP’s actions and its connections to paramilitary groups.
