(IPYS/IFEX) – “I cannot stand this situation anymore. I do not know how one can possibly understand what is happening here.” With this statement, journalist Claudia Gurisatti demonstrated the growing tension that led her to flee into exile, the only alternative that was left to safeguard her peace of mind and save her life. Gurisatti, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – “I cannot stand this situation anymore. I do not know how one can possibly understand what is happening here.” With this statement, journalist Claudia Gurisatti demonstrated the growing tension that led her to flee into exile, the only alternative that was left to safeguard her peace of mind and save her life.
Gurisatti, director of the La Noche programme and news anchor for the private television station RCN, had been subjected to constant threats. In 2001, she suddenly fled the country after the Attorney General informed her of a plan to have her assassinated (see IFEX alerts of 26, 9 and 1 February 2001). She returned to Colombia after a number of months abroad.
Gurisatti told IPYS that, ever since her return, and especially in the last few weeks, the threats against her had intensified. A man called her office on numerous occasions and related details of the journalist’s daily activities. The individual also referred to the various ways in which he was planning to murder her. Gurisatti was even told that she would be killed with explosives. “It is not just a matter of my security, but the security of all those around me,” Gurisatti stated.
The warnings got to such a point that, while she was in the middle of reporting, she would receive messages telling her not to continue. “I do not want to take part in the war, I just want to practice journalism,” the journalist affirmed. With the television station’s support, Gurisatti plans to continue her work from abroad.
The origin of the threats against Gurisatti is still not clear. Nevertheless, the security forces felt that her life was at risk. This latest incident is yet another in the long list of Colombian journalists who are under threat, a list that numbered over fifty in 2001.
