(FLIP/IFEX) – On 28 January 2004, Inés Peña, the 22-year-old leader of the Popular Women’s Organisation (Organización Femenina Popular, OFP) youth chapter and the host of the “Cultura por la Vida” segment of La Mohana television programme, was kidnapped, tortured and told to abandon her journalistic work. The incident occurred in the port city of […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 28 January 2004, Inés Peña, the 22-year-old leader of the Popular Women’s Organisation (Organización Femenina Popular, OFP) youth chapter and the host of the “Cultura por la Vida” segment of La Mohana television programme, was kidnapped, tortured and told to abandon her journalistic work.
The incident occurred in the port city of Barrancabermeja, northeastern Colombia. According to a 29 January OFP press release, two armed paramilitaries forced Peña into a vehicle and proceeded to physically and mentally torture her. She was also threatened and told to put an end to her involvement at the OFP and the television programme.
The Barrancabermeja police chief, Colonel Jorge William Gil, told FLIP that he was aware of the case from OFP’s press release but could not verify the information in the release. He added, however, that the police had launched an investigation.
La Mohana is an OFP news programme, broadcast every Sunday from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. (local time) on the Barrancabermeja regional station Enlace. During the “Cultura por la Vida” segment of the programme, Peña speaks from the viewpoint of young people who are caught up in the conflict. She has condemned the arrival of paramilitaries in the region and human rights violations committed by the various armed groups.
According to La Mohana director Martha Arias, “Inés Peña fulfills a number of functions, working as a journalist, announcer, and a member of the [programme’s] editorial committee.” Peña is also a member of the Regional Public Prosecutor’s Human Rights Youth Network and coordinator of the OFP’s María Cano documentation centre.
Arias told FLIP that, on 31 December 2003, Peña was threatened by an individual who approached her and warned that she should stop working on the television programme. Despite the threats and torture she was subjected to, on 1 February Peña hosted the television segment as always.
This is not the first time the OFP has been targeted by paramilitary groups. On 23 October, paramilitaries assassinated OFP member Esperanza Amaríz and on 27 January, they fired shots at an international delegation that was on its way to visit an OFP housing project in San Pablo municipality.
In the last three months, three Barrancabermeja journalists have received threats (see IFEX alert of 30 October 2003). FLIP will continue to monitor and report on press freedom violations in the city, giving particular emphasis to attacks aimed at silencing alternative media, such as the OFP’s programmes.
