(FLIP/IFEX) – On 10 October 2004, Luis Carlos Burbano Carvajal, a Caracol Noticias Televisión station correspondent in Nariño department, and his camera operator, Mauricio Mesa Lancheros, were kidnapped by members of the Jacinto Matallana unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo, FARC-EP) guerrilla group. The incident […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 10 October 2004, Luis Carlos Burbano Carvajal, a Caracol Noticias Televisión station correspondent in Nariño department, and his camera operator, Mauricio Mesa Lancheros, were kidnapped by members of the Jacinto Matallana unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo, FARC-EP) guerrilla group. The incident occurred at about 3:00 p.m. (local time) in La Divina Pastora municipality, on the border between the departments of Nariño and Putumayo, southern Colombia.
Even though Burbano Carvajal was wearing a vest and carrying a press card that identified him as a Caracol Noticias correspondent, the guerrillas accused him of being in the area for reasons unrelated to his journalism work. Both Burbano Carvajal and Mesa Lancheros explained that they were working on a story about an exhibit of painter Carlos Jacanamijoy’s works, in Santiago municipality, Alto Putumayo. At first, the guerrillas did not believe the television crew. After viewing their video material, however, they realised that they were telling the truth and released them at around noon on 11 October.
The guerrillas returned the crew’s camera and videotape but kept the battery. Moreover, they warned Burbano Carvajal and Mesa Lancheros that they needed authorisation to travel in the region.
This is the first case of journalists being kidnapped in 2004, according to FLIP’s information. In 2003, FLIP protested the kidnapping of 11 journalists, seven of them by the FARC-EP.
FLIP urges the parties in the armed conflict to respect journalists’ work and permit them to travel freely within the country. The organisation further calls on the Colombian government to ensure that journalists can exercise their profession unhindered.
