(AMARC/IFEX) – On the evening of 17 May 2006, members of the special anti-riot squad of the police, assisted by the army, detained journalist Richard Calpa, director of the indigenous radio station Totoro Stéreo. His working equipment was burned on the spot and Calpa was taken away in an armoured car. To date, his whereabouts […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – On the evening of 17 May 2006, members of the special anti-riot squad of the police, assisted by the army, detained journalist Richard Calpa, director of the indigenous radio station Totoro Stéreo. His working equipment was burned on the spot and Calpa was taken away in an armoured car. To date, his whereabouts and circumstances are unknown and AMARC fears for his life.
The police action took place at the site of a protest, and resulted in four deaths caused by beatings administered by the police and by asphyxiation. Various journalists were also detained at the scene, among them Jesús López and Marcelo Forero, who are being held incommunicado but whose whereabouts are known.
Calpa was detained while he was covering the protests, which were being held to express opposition to the Free Trade Agreement (TLC) and to demand action on a land claims agreement involving more than 15,000 members of communities in the area of La María, Cauca, some 800 kilometres from Bogotá.
At the time of his being taken into custody, Calpa was clearly identified as a journalist by his vest, which bore the radio station’s name, and was broadcasting live using a “radiocycle”: a mobile transmitter commonly used by indigenous communities. His equipment was set aflame by the police; the journalist is being held incommunicado and there are reasons to fear for his well-being.
Calpa, who graduated with a diploma in Indigenous Research and Communication from the Universidad Javeriana de Cali, is an accomplished media personality who, at 22 years of age, is the youngest radio station director in the country.
AMARC urges the Colombian authorities to identify the place where Calpa is being held; to allow family, colleagues, and representatives of human rights organisations to contact him; and to expedite his release, as he was detained while fulfilling his professional duties and exercising the right to freedom of expression and information.
