(FLIP/IFEX) – In early May, national television station RCN received news that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had ordered journalist Astrid María Legarda Martínez’s assassination in reprisal for her reporting. According to the journalist and the television station’s director Alvaro García, the source of the news is reliable, but was not revealed for […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – In early May, national television station RCN received news that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had ordered journalist Astrid María Legarda Martínez’s assassination in reprisal for her reporting. According to the journalist and the television station’s director Alvaro García, the source of the news is reliable, but was not revealed for security reasons
Legarda Martínez has worked for RCN’s newscast and journalistic programme La Noche for the past three years, covering events related to the armed conflict. She has reported on the fighting between guerrilla groups and paramilitaries and conducted interviews with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Legarda Martínez has previously been harassed by unknown assailants. On 9 September 2001, the journalist managed to escape when two armed men tried to stop her while she was on her way home. Following this incident, she decided to take fewer risks in her reporting.
RCN has been the victim of several attacks and threats in the past few months. In February 2002, Claudia Gurissati, news host and director of the journalistic programme La Noche, had to leave Colombia a second time after receiving news of a possible threat to her life. In March, RCN judicial editor Juan Carlos Giraldo received death threats (see IFEX alerts of 12 March 2002).
On 12 April, RCN’s studios were targeted in an attack. A rocket launched by someone on a motorcycle caused material damage to the building. The authorities’ preliminary investigation indicate that the FARC was responsible for the attack (see IFEX alert of 16 April 2002).
