(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is an IAPA press release: IAPA asks officials to quickly solve murder in Colombia Miami (December 19, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today condemned the murder of Colombian journalist William Soto Cheng and urged officials to quickly investigate and punish those found to be guilty to the fullest […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is an IAPA press release:
IAPA asks officials to quickly solve murder in Colombia
Miami (December 19, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today condemned the murder of Colombian journalist William Soto Cheng and urged officials to quickly investigate and punish those found to be guilty to the fullest extent of the law.
Soto Cheng was killed on Thursday, December 18, when he arrived to work at the local television station, Telemar, in Puerto de Buenaventura, in the Cauca Valley, located in the southeastern part of the country. Two men on a motorcycle approached him and shot him in the head.
“We are saddened by this new murder in Colombia, which continues to be the most dangerous place to practice journalism. Regrettably, we notice that, as the violence and impunity persists, the country’s freedom of expression is being controlled by those groups that operate on the margins of the law, unscrupulous officials and delinquents,” stated Rafael Molina, Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
The journalist, who had more than 15 years of experience, broadcast a television opinion program and the Litoral Pacífico (Pacific Coast) and Deportes en Acción (Sports in Action) programs on the local station. During the October 26 elections, Soto said that members of the police and military were accomplices in a series of irregularities in the tally of votes. When several criminal charges were issued against him, he retracted his comments and apologised.
Soto Cheng, who was 46 years old, had been receiving threats on the telephone since the end of October, which had led him to think about leaving Buenaventura.
According to the Colombia report presented during the last IAPA General Assembly, between March and October, 30 journalists reported receiving death threats, seven fled the country, two were kidnapped, and 10 said they were attacked by officials while they were covering the news. According to IAPA statistics, 10 journalists were killed in Colombia in 2003 and 124 have been killed since 1988.
Molina, from Ahora magazine in the Dominican Republic, recalled the petition sent last October by the IAPA to the government, military officials and the Colombian police, in which the organisation asked for real and effective safety measures to be implemented to guarantee the free exercise of journalism and urged the Attorney General to investigate and punish those responsible for press freedom violations.
