(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 September 2000 IAPA press release: IAPA Calls for Investigation into Colombian Journalist’s Murder MIAMI, Florida (Sept. 12, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today publicly expressed its concern and outrage at the murder in Colombia of journalist Carlos José Restrepo Rocha and called on the authorities […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 September 2000 IAPA press release:
IAPA Calls for Investigation into Colombian Journalist’s Murder
MIAMI, Florida (Sept. 12, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today publicly expressed its concern and outrage at the murder in Colombia of journalist Carlos José Restrepo Rocha and called on the authorities there to take up the case immediately so as to bring those responsible to trial.
Restrepo Rocha, editor of the Tangente newspaper and publisher of the daily Usocoello al Día, was murdered on Saturday (Sept. 9) by members of the Self-Defense Units of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary movement. He was shot 11 times in the neck and chest. His body was found by residents of the San Luis township in Tolima province, 125 miles southwest of Bogotá.
“We call on the government to not allow this crime to be just another ruthless act of violence afflicting Colombia. We ask the president and the national attorney general to fulfill their pledge to the Inter American Press Organization in May to investigate crimes against journalists in their country,” said Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
Restrepo Rocha, 44, was running for a seat on the local city council. According to local residents a group of some 20 men identifying themselves as members of the AUC grabbed him, handcuffed him and took him away, accusing him of being in league with leftwing guerrillas.
Molina, from the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic magazine Ahora, declared that “a timely and swift investigation that results in those responsible for this crime being brought to justice will serve to break the culture of impunity and will give a dash of hope to Colombia’s long-suffering people.”
The murder brought to seven the number of journalists killed in Colombia since last October. The others were Marisol Revelo Baron, killed on July 4; Antonio Gomez Gomez, February 9; Pablo Emilio Medina Motta, December 4; Alberto Sánchez Tovar and Luis Alberto Rincon, November 28, and Rodolfo Julio Torres, last October.
