(FLIP/IFEX) – Threats against journalists, barriers to the distribution of media products, and the possible sabotage of television broadcasts all underscore the worrisome situation of journalism in the Atlantic Coast region, following the first court rulings regarding the links between politicians and paramilitaries. The journalist José Ponce Obispo, director of a programme on Radio Galeón […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – Threats against journalists, barriers to the distribution of media products, and the possible sabotage of television broadcasts all underscore the worrisome situation of journalism in the Atlantic Coast region, following the first court rulings regarding the links between politicians and paramilitaries.
The journalist José Ponce Obispo, director of a programme on Radio Galeón in Santa Marta, received death threats on his cellular telephone, and from a visitor to his home, on 14 November 2006.
On that day, the journalist had reported on a march organized by a group of social leaders in Sierra Nevada emphasising the improved state of public security in the region. A group apparently opposed to (the demonstration sent a message to the radio station on the situation, saying that public security had in fact deteriorated due to the resurgence of new illegal groups, and asked that it be read in its entirety on-air. Ponce offered instead to interview the authors of the message. Ponce considers that his coverage of this situation to be the cause of the threats, even though he took no sides on the issue. Ponce has since been in hiding and hopes for protection from the authorities (see IFEX alerts of 22 November and 5 December 2006).
On 28 November, journalist Robinsón Ruz Ruz, a programme host for the station Radio Piragua in Sincelejo, Sucre, received a funerary condolence card containing a death threat. The next night a telephone caller said to him in an ironic tone: “congratulations on the message you received yesterday”. Ruz told FLIP that he has been researching ties between the paramilitaries and politicians, including several Congressmen from Sucre department.
Other journalists who have received death threats because of their work include Clodomiro Castilla, of Radio Panzenú, as well as Rafael Gómez and Adolfo Berrocal of La voz de Montería, a Córdoba-based radio station. They received death threats in calls to their cell phones; the caller referred to them as “snitches”. They have been reporting since August on the wasting of resources by the health secretary of the department, who also allegedly has ties with the paramilitary groups.
On 29 November, Congressman Gustavo Petro filed a complaint over alleged interruptions in the broadcast of a congressional debate on paramilitary-political linkages, involving Foreign Affairs Minister María Consuelo Araújo, sister of Senator Álvaro Araújo.
A similar case occurred on 18 October, when in Sucre and Córdoba departments the broadcast of a similar debate was also interrupted.
On 3 October two individuals on a motorcycle purchased 60 percent of a single issue of the newspaper “El Meridiano de Sucre” in the city of Sincelejo. The front page featured a story on a scandal involving various Congress members (associating with a paramilitary leader (see alert of 25 October 2006)
FLIP was informed by sources who prefer not to be publicly identified by name that all copies of the latest edition of the magazine “Semana” available in the town of Valledupar were bought up to prevent its broader circulation. It carried an article on the same topic.
All these incidents are linked to the country’s difficult political situation, which has put the practice of journalism at risk. It is worrisome that in areas of the country where journalists who practised self-censorship for years are now taking risks again, they are facing danger as a result.
FLIP calls upon the authorities to investigate these incidents and to punish those found to be guilty, and to provide adequate protection to journalists under threat. FLIP also calls upon civil society to stand up in solidarity with journalists working in these dangerous areas of the country.
