(IPYS/IFEX) – On 27 October 2004, journalist Alfredo Serrano Zabala resigned from his position as director of the news programme “Las Noticias”, saying that he fears for his life. He informed the public of his resignation by reading on air a letter, entitled “I silence my voice before it is silenced for me”. Serrano Zabala […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 27 October 2004, journalist Alfredo Serrano Zabala resigned from his position as director of the news programme “Las Noticias”, saying that he fears for his life. He informed the public of his resignation by reading on air a letter, entitled “I silence my voice before it is silenced for me”. Serrano Zabala had held the position for only three months. The event took place in Barrancabermeja, Santander department, northern Colombia.
Serrano Zabala said that although he has not received direct threats, he has answered the phone late in the night only to hear footsteps and voices. Based on these phone calls he fears for his security, as well as that of his wife and two children.
The journalist told IPYS that he had made allegations regarding the actions of municipal and departmental authorities on his morning programme, broadcast on RCN radio network’s Radio Uno station. He alleged that some officials had collaborated with paramilitary groups, which have a strong presence in the region. He also said that due to his accusations, state advertising contracts had been withdrawn in an attempt to shut the programme down.
In his statement, he said Barrancabermeja’s “owners of power” considered those who “do not agree with (. . .) their ways of governing and the direction that the city is going in to be enemies of development in the region.”
In April, a joint IPYS, Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters sans frontières (RSF) mission to Barrancabermeja documented the threatening climate in which journalists in the city work and the pressures to which they are subjected by illegal armed groups and security forces. The organisations also noted that media outlets are highly dependant on government advertising and that this dependency is used by officials to manipulate the information that is disseminated.
