(IPYS/IFEX) – On the evening of 23 August 2006, the Magdalena department police anti-riot squad prevented a group of protesters from assaulting Radio Magdalena radio station journalists Odín Vitola and Edwin Robles and “Hoy Diario del Magdalena” photographer Alvis Montiner. The reporters were covering the march being carried out by students, teachers and employees of […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On the evening of 23 August 2006, the Magdalena department police anti-riot squad prevented a group of protesters from assaulting Radio Magdalena radio station journalists Odín Vitola and Edwin Robles and “Hoy Diario del Magdalena” photographer Alvis Montiner.
The reporters were covering the march being carried out by students, teachers and employees of the University of Magdalena to protest the imprisonment of the university’s chancellor, Carlos Caicedo Omar. The protesters accused the journalists of misinforming the public about the chancellor’s arrest, which took place on 18 August after he was accused of corruption. The event took place in the city of Santa Marta, in northern Colombia.
This attempted assault is one more in a series of acts of intimidation against the media which have taken place since the authorities detained Caicedo. Gabriel Padilla, correspondent for “Noticias Uno” television news programme and CM& television network, as well as Radio Magdalena radio station’s Cipriano López and Hernando Barón, are among those reporters who have been threatened by telephone or otherwise prevented from covering the case.
All these journalists have been accused, in a propaganda leaflet distributed in the city during the week of 21 August, of harming the chancellor by publishing misleading information about him. The authors of this publication identify themselves as “students, teachers and employees in defence of the University of Magdalena”.
