In June, the U.S. embassy in Bogota denied renowned television journalist Hollman Morris a visa to come to the United States as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, permanently banning him from entry on the basis that the Patriot Act blocked him because of "terrorist ties.". After public outcry, however, the U.S. State Department in July reversed its decision.
Now, as Morris prepares to begin his year as part of the prestigious Nieman Fellowship program, he spoke with the Boston Globe about the visa controversy.
In the Q&A with the Globe, Morris said he had traveled to the United States more than 10 times --never with any visa problems -- during the past five years.
Morris, who said that while at Harvard he wants to study "the role of the press in processes of reconstruction of the memory of history, reparation and truth," explained that he believes the visa denial was part of the Colombian secret police's desire to "sabotage" him. "The evidence is clear that this was a criminal operation to ruin the reputation, the family stability, and psychological well-being of a journalist," he said.
Also in the interview, Morris pointed out that Colombia's president-elect, Juan Manuel Santos, was a Nieman Fellow in 1998.
Through his award-winning television program Contravía (loosely translated as "against traffic," or "the wrong way"), Morris has criticized Colombia's armed conflict and President Álvaro Uribe’s administration.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
