The following is a 17 February 2000 RSF press release: Representatives of the Colombian government and the guerrillas tour European capitals RSF condemns the continuing assassination and kidnapping of journalists despite peace negotiations On the occasion of their tour of a number of European capitals, including Madrid, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) addressed VÃctor Ricardo, the […]
The following is a 17 February 2000 RSF press release:
Representatives of the Colombian government and the guerrillas tour European capitals
RSF condemns the continuing assassination and kidnapping of journalists despite peace negotiations
On the occasion of their tour of a number of European capitals, including Madrid, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) addressed VÃctor Ricardo, the Colombian government’s high commissioner for peace, and Raúl Reyes, spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) guerrilla group. While the two parties are involved in negotiations to put an end to Colombiaâs thirty-five-year civil war, the international press freedom organisation asked them to “ensure that journalists are no longer targeted, and that the control of information is no longer a stake in the conflict”. In a letter to Raúl Reyes, RSF stated that they are “extremely concerned over the recent statements made by FARC leader Manuel Marulanda, and the kidnapping of journalist Guillermo Cortés, director of the editorial council of the television news programme, Hour Zero (Hora Cero)”. In a letter addressed to VÃctor Ricardo, RSF expressed its concern about the “attacks on press freedom which have been committed by the Colombian army, and the alleged links between the army and the paramilitary Colombian United Self Defense Groups (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC), which is responsible for the murders of a number of journalists”.
In a letter to FARC’s representative, RSF “condemned Marulanda’s statements”. On 29 January 2000, Marulanda said that the Colombian media owners had “several debts” to the FARC, which the group was going to “force them to pay”. A few days later, he accused them of being in the service of the huge monopolies and of presenting “intentionally biased” information about the FARC. “Statements such as this can only lead to journalists self-censoring themselves for fear of being accused of siding with the “other camp” and “suffering reprisals”, denounced RSF, recalling that “in June 1997, the FARC had already declared journalists to be âmilitary targetsâ who would have to âapologise for the army’s activitiesâ”. The international organisation in defence of press freedom believes that this reasoning led directly to the 3 December 1999 assassination of Pablo Emilio Medina, a cameraman with the television station TV Garzon, in the department of Huila. Emilio Medina was killed by members of FARC while he was travelling accompanied by a police officer. The journalist had come to the Gigante region, 260 kilometres south of Bogotá, to cover the guerrilla offensive in the area.
In the letter to Raúl Reyes, RSF also condemned the 22 January kidnapping by presumed members of FARC of Guillermo Cortés, former director of the news programme NTC and the weekly “Cromos”, and current director of the editorial council for the news programme Hour Zero. The organisation recalled that during the last two years, seventeen journalists have been kidnapped by the armed group, “most often to force the media to disseminate a press release or condemn the paramilitariesâ coercion tactics”. RSF added that “not only do these kidnappings constitute an obstacle to press freedom, but they are also a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention’s Article 3, which condemns hostage-taking of “people who are not directly participating in the hostilities, such as journalists”. The organisation also noted that “the repeated violations of press freedom committed by the FARC are incompatible with the search for peace in Colombia”. RSF asked the armed group to “stop deeming journalists as legitimate military targets and the control of information as a stake in the conflict,” “to immediately release Guillermo Cortés”, and to “put an end to the repeated kidnapping of journalists”.
In the letter to VÃctor Ricardo, RSF reminded him that six of the nine Colombian journalists who fled their country in 1999 allegedly did “because they were threatened by the AUC and members of the armed forces who try to control the flow of information in the zones where they are fighting the guerrillas.” RSF stated that “the cases of Carlos PulgarÃn, a correspondent with the daily “The Times” (El Tiempo) in MonterÃa, department of Cordoba, and Jorge Rivera Sena, a correspondent with the daily “The Universal” (El Universal) in the department of BolÃvar, raise the question of whether the army and the paramilitary groups are working in collusion”. The two journalists were accused by army officers of being “spokespersons for the guerrillas” before they were assaulted or kidnapped by presumed members of the AUC or “unknown individuals”. Carlos PulgarÃn and Jorge Rivera Sena had published information on the extortions committed by AUC and the losses suffered by the group. The multiplicity of threats and aggressions against them forced the two journalists to leave their country. Carlos PulgarÃn found refuge in Peru but has received more threats there.
In the letter to the high commissioner for peace, RSF asked about “the army’s possible responsibility for two of the seven murders of journalists which were carried out in 1999”. Jaime Garzon, journalist and humourist on the radio station Radionet and the television station Caracol Television, was killed on 13 August 1999 in Bogotá by two men on motorcycles. The celebrity journalist supported negotiations between the authorities and guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberacion Nacional, ELN). Some observers believe that members of the military intelligence services are implicated in the murder. Guzman Quintero Torres, editor-in-chief of the local daily “El Pilon” and correspondent with the regional television station Telecaribe in Valledupar, department of César, was assassinated on 16 September 1999 after his newspaper condemned the extortions and abuses committed in that region by the army and paramilitary groups.
Considering that “the installation of a lasting peace in Colombia will occur when both parties involved in the conflict respect and make others respect press freedom”, RSF concluded its letter to VÃctor Ricard by asking the Colombian government to:
– give clear instructions to the army so that journalists are no longer deemed military targets and the control of information at all costs is no longer considered essential;
– take necessary measures to ensure that the soldiers who are involved in pressuring journalists are punished – as such, RSF notes that the commander of the eleventh brigade, Colonel Miguel Angel Cárdenas, accused PulgarÃn of being a “spokesman for the guerrillas”;
– immediately put into place the protection programme for threatened journalists which President Andrés Pastrana publicly committed himself to creating on 5 May 1999;
– open an in-depth inquiry into the links between the army and the paramilitaries and the resulting consequences of their actions on the freedom to inform, taking into account the cases of Jorge Rivera Sena and Carlos PulgarÃn.
The Colombian government and guerrilla group representatives arrived in Stockholm on 2 February. They then went on to Norway and Italy, and will soon be travelling to Switzerland and Spain. The objective of their tour is to “study the experiences of economic and social development which can be applied to Colombia”, explained Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Guillermo Fernández de Soto.
