(IPYS/IFEX) – In a special police operation, on 27 November 2000, the authorities arrested Fernando Maldonado Ortiz and Carlos Arturo Castillo, the alleged driver of the motorcycle from which Eduardo Pilonieta, the columnist for “Vanguardia Liberal”, was shot. On Friday 24 November, Jorge Humberto Torres Monsalve, a former labour leader, was arrested after an investigation […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – In a special police operation, on 27 November 2000, the authorities arrested Fernando Maldonado Ortiz and Carlos Arturo Castillo, the alleged driver of the motorcycle from which Eduardo Pilonieta, the columnist for “Vanguardia Liberal”, was shot. On Friday 24 November, Jorge Humberto Torres Monsalve, a former labour leader, was arrested after an investigation suggesting that he is behind the incident.
IPYS was able to obtain this information from the Attorney General’s Office.
The incident occurred in Bucaramanga, capital of the department of Santander, in Colombia’s eastern region, on 14 June at 1:45 p.m. (local time), when two assassins riding a motorcycle attempted to kill the journalist, who is also a lawyer.
Pilonieta was travelling through Bucaramanga’s eastern region when he was shot three times in the June attack. He was seriously injured and remained in one of the city’s social security centres during his recovery. In connection with this incident, on Friday 24 November, Torres Monsalve, former president of the Workers’ Labour Union (Union Sindical Obrera, USO), Bucaramanga branch, was arrested by special agents of the Santander police, who were assisted by an attorney.
According to information published in “El Tiempo” daily, the inquiry thus far suggests that Torres Monsalve is the intellectual author of the attack. He is being accused of attempted murder, aggravated assault and conspiring to commit a crime.
Torres Monsalve has begun to provide some information to the investigation and will have to explain to the Attorney General’s Office if he was involved in any way in the planning and committing of the crime.
According to the authorities’ investigation, the former USO president was planning to leave the country. The police found him and apprehended him on Friday 24 November in the Venezuelan consulate in Bucaramanga. He was left in the care of a special attorney who after questioning him in the context of the inquiry, will determine how the legal case will proceed.
Despite the fact that a number of individuals close to the columnist informed IPYS that the attack was not related to the journalist’s writings, the Attorney General’s Office did not provide any information in this respect. The attorney in charge of the investigation announced that there would be more arrests, suggesting that more individuals are involved.
Nine journalists have been murdered in Colombia this year, at least six of them for reasons related to their profession.
