(IPYS/IFEX) – The following is a 27 April 2001 IPYS alert: COLOMBIA: “VOZ” CORRESPONDENT ASSASSINATED On 26 April 2001, Flavio Bedoya, correspondent for “Voz” in Tumaco, the official publication of the Colombian Communist party, was assassinated. Bedoya was shot four times as he descended from a public transport vehicle. Bedoya also worked at the local […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The following is a 27 April 2001 IPYS alert:
COLOMBIA: “VOZ” CORRESPONDENT ASSASSINATED
On 26 April 2001, Flavio Bedoya, correspondent for “Voz” in Tumaco, the official publication of the Colombian Communist party, was assassinated. Bedoya was shot four times as he descended from a public transport vehicle. Bedoya also worked at the local television station in Tumaco.
The murder occurred in the city of Tumaco, Nariño department, in the country’s southern region, where journalists have found themselves in the middle of the fight for control over territory between paramilitaries and guerillas.
IPYS’ correspondent in Colombia learned that Bedoya, fifty-two years of age and the father of three daughters, had warned “Voz” executives that he had been receiving death threats.
According to IPYS’ sources, the threats began after a report by Bedoya on the fighting between guerrillas and paramilitaries in the village of Llorente was published on 4 April. The report’s central focus was an interview with “Marcos”, commander of the Daniela Aldana division of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC).
Minutes before the crime, Bedoya had left his car within the city’s citadel because of a mechanical problem. He took the bus in order to go buy a spare part for the car. When he got off the bus in front of the Culture House, two men on a motorcycle shot him repeatedly.
According to witnesses, the two men who killed the reporter had been following him. IPYS tried to obtain the authorities’ version of the story but they would only say that they were investigating the homicide.
Due to the upsurge in violence in Tumaco, two news programmes which aired at midday and at night on a regional station were suspended. This followed threats against journalists and the lack of any protection from the authorities.
Given the overall situation of violence, human rights, social, and religious organisations have issued a statement in which they outline “to the national and international community, the grave situation of social conflict and human rights violations that the people of Tumaco, who are mostly black and indigenous minorities, are subjected to.”
At the beginning of September 2000, the Pandora’s Box (Caja de Pandora) programme, which was broadcast every day at 5:00 p.m. (local time) on the local Radio Mira station, was suspended because of threats against its producers.
“Working as a journalist in Tumaco has become dangerous,” explained one reporter who asked to remain anonymous.
Bedoya’s assassination occurred one week after unknown assailants attacked the offices of the weekly “El Otro” in Pasto, throwing two grenades and causing material damage (see IFEX alert of 4 May 2001). Until now no one has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recently stated that addressing the violence against journalists in Colombia is the state’s responsibility. The IACHR’s Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, which put together this analysis, noted that in Colombia violence against journalists has not stopped but rather has escalated.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– urging them to investigate at length Bedoya’s assassination
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic
Carrera 8 No. 7-26, Bogotá
Fax: +571 336 21 09 / 286 79 37 / 286 74 34
E-mail: pastrana@presidencia.gov.co
Alfonso Gomez Méndez
Attorney General
Diagonal 22B No. 52-01
Fax: +571 570 20 00, ext. 1587
E-mail: contacto@fiscalia.gov.co
Senator Gabriel Zapata
President of the Senate’s Human Rights Commission
Carrera 7 No. 8-68, Oficina 707, edificio nuevo del Congreso
Fax: +571 350 1031
E-mail: zapatagei@senado.gov.co
Send letters of support to:
E-mail: vozcaloz@unete.com
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
