(FLIP/IFEX) – The 30 January 2002 attack against Orlando Sierra Hernández, deputy editor of the Manizales-based daily “La Patria”, remains unpunished. The journalist died on 1 February 2002, two days after being shot. In 2002, a man named Luis Fernando Soto Zapata was sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison for allegedly murdering […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – The 30 January 2002 attack against Orlando Sierra Hernández, deputy editor of the Manizales-based daily “La Patria”, remains unpunished. The journalist died on 1 February 2002, two days after being shot.
In 2002, a man named Luis Fernando Soto Zapata was sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison for allegedly murdering the journalist, and an “order for preventive detention” (medida de aseguramiento) was issued against Luis Arley Ortiz Orozco, alias “Pereque”. Ortiz is now a fugitive and there have been no attempts to identify or punish those who ordered Sierra’s murder.
On 29 May 2003, the Bogotá-based newspaper “El Tiempo” reported that at least six individuals who are linked to the case have been killed, including two witnesses who had suggested that local politicians were behind the murder.
In a recent visit to the city of Manizales, the attorney general said his office had “done its job” since the murderer was sentenced and two other persons implicated in the case were identified. However, FLIP notes that for the last 19 months there have been no new developments that would lead one to hope that those responsible for the murder will be identified or brought to trial.
Sierra was well known in the region because of his Sunday column, “Punto de Encuentro”. He reported on corruption cases and often criticised the so-called “barco-yepista” coalition, which has been very influential in Caldas department for at least the last 30 years. Senators Víctor Renán Barco and Ómar Yepes Alzate head the coalition.
On 26 January 2004, a lawyer in the Sierra case asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to consider the testimonies of individuals testifying in a separate murder case. The case involves the homicide of a town councillor from Palestina municipality, Caldas department, located one hour from Manizales. Apparently, the councillor’s murder was politically motivated. That case has gone to trial and the presiding judge has prevented the press from accessing any of the file documents, even though there is no law permitting such a move.
Even though the hired killer who murdered Sierra was convicted, the case remains unfinished while evidence exists that implicates other individuals in the crime. According to FLIP, justice will not be served until those behind the murder are captured and sentenced. Otherwise, Sierra’s insistence that public institutions act with integrity will have been in vain.
