(IPYS/IFEX) – Carlos Pulgarín, a correspondent with “El Tiempo” newspaper in the city of Montería, department of Cordoba, was forced to leave the region because of death threats he received in late June 1999. He was threatened after reporting on the armed confrontation between the Colombian Army, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Carlos Pulgarín, a correspondent with “El Tiempo” newspaper in
the city of Montería, department of Cordoba, was forced to leave the region
because of death threats he received in late June 1999. He was threatened
after reporting on the armed confrontation between the Colombian Army, the
Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia, FARC) and paramilitary groups, which occurred in the department’s
southern region.
On the morning of 29 June, the journalist found a message on the newspaper’s
answering machine, in Montería, accusing him of collaborating with a
guerrilla group: “…we are going to be lighting a candle for you. Your
family should prepare a nice funeral procession for you so that you will no
longer be an informant or a press relations man for the guerrilla.” At 9.30
p.m. on that day, a further threat to Pulgarín was recorded on the answering
machine: “…tell (him) to stop defending the indians.”
The following morning, while the correspondent was walking towards his usual
breakfast spot, three men got out of a van, approached him and warned that
he had better stop defending indigenous peoples if he did not want to get
himself into trouble. Pulgarín, 29, the father of a three year old girl, had
to leave Montería to protect himself and his family.
The “El Tiempo” correspondent had written two articles on the fighting
between the FARC and the Military Infantry Battalion No 10 “Rifles”, in
Cordoba, in which the self defense groups also intervened. Pulgarín reported
that the Colombian United Self Defense groups (Autodefensas Unidas de
Colombia, AUC) had suffered fourteen casualties and not two, as he was told
by paramilitaries that detained him, along with other press workers, in La
Rica, en route to the site of the confrontation.
Some months before, Pulgarín had reported on the assassinations of Embera
Katío indigenous peoples committed by paramilitaries. As a result, one
hypothesis suggests that the AUC, a paramilitary association headed by
Carlos Castaño, is responsible for the threats. Castaño has denied any
responsibility.
On the other hand, after Pulgarín’s last report, colonel Hudson Lopez
Hernández, the army’s commander-in-chief during the combat, was dismissed
from his post for errors committed in planning the operation. On a previous
occasion, colonel Lopez’s brigade had warned the “El Tiempo” correspondent
that his reporting resembled that of a “press relations man” for the
guerrilla.
Pulgarín was the third journalist to receive threats in June. Reporter Juan
Carlos Aguiar and cameraman Jhon Jader Jaramillo, of the RCN television news
programme, fled the country after they were threatened over the telephone
and in person. They had distributed images of the 8 June Chinchiná lynching
of shoemaker Jorge Delio Cardona. After the images were shown, the public
prosecutor’s office began investigating the police officers who had first
presented the crime but had not taken any action on it. The officers were
subsequently fired.
Previously, Alfredo Molano, a columnist for the Bogotá newspaper “El
Espectador”, was forced into exile, after he was warned by Castaño that he
did not tolerate strong criticism. Molano left Colombia on 21 January and
currently lives under asylum in Spain.
According to the Colombian Committee for the Protection of Journalists, José
Laureano Restrepo, of Radio Caracolm and the “El Meridiano” magazine, and
Yineth Bedoya, of “El Espectador”, are currently receiving threats because
of their investigations of political corruption and corruption in prisons.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
identification of the responsible parties
Appeals To
Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic
Kra. 8 n. 7-26
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Tel: +571 284 3300
Fax: + 571 286 7434 / 286 7937 / 284 2186
E-mail: pastrana@presidencia.gov. coNéstor Humberto Martínez
Minister of the Interior
Kra. 8 n. 8-09
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Tel: +571 334 3960 / 284 0214
Fax: +571 341 9739José Fernando Castro Caicedo
Ombudsman
Cll. 55 n. 10-32
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Tel: +571 346 2947
Fax: +571 346 1225Alfonso Gomez Méndez
Attorney General
Cll. 35 n. 431
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Tel: +571 288 7177
Fax: +571 211 6676
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
