(FLIP/IFEX) – On 18 August 2003, camera operator Jorge Real Castilla, of the RCN television station in Valledupar (a city on Colombia’s north coast), was assaulted by members of La Popa battalion. The journalist was reporting on the death of alleged members of the ELN guerrilla group and the seizure of military equipment. A battalion […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 18 August 2003, camera operator Jorge Real Castilla, of the RCN television station in Valledupar (a city on Colombia’s north coast), was assaulted by members of La Popa battalion. The journalist was reporting on the death of alleged members of the ELN guerrilla group and the seizure of military equipment.
A battalion member had informed Real about the news and so he went to the forensic bureau where the bodies were located. The individuals were killed in combat during an army operation in the Serranía del Perijá mountainous region. Real was taking pictures of the dead, when an army sergeant and some soldiers shouted at him to stop filming while another soldier covered the camera lens. Real continued filming until a soldier grabbed the camera and confiscated it.
The camera operator contacted the RCN news coordinator to report the incident. RCN Bogotá immediately contacted the operation’s commander, Colonel Juan Pablo Rodríguez. The colonel told FLIP that “tensions grew on both sides, but things have already been cleared up.”
The colonel made his subordinates return the camera to the journalist, but it was no longer working. Rodríguez told the camera operator that the army would fix the camera.
Journalists from the region stated that such incidents have occurred on several occasions.
Colonel Rodríguez made a commitment to launch an internal investigation into the soldiers’ actions. The journalists announced they would file a complaint with the State Attorney General’s Office denouncing the attacks against them by some members of the La Popa battalion.
FLIP calls on all security forces to respect the journalistic profession in order to guarantee the right to information and urges the security bodies to defend this constitutional right.
