A recent decision by Colombia’s Inspector General to sanction nine military personnel for profiling and monitoring more than 130 people, including at least 30 journalists, once again provoked stress and fear in journalist Óscar Parra.
The director of media outlet Rutas del Conflicto, which covers the armed conflict in the South American country, was taken back to 2020 when Semana magazine reported the case known as “Las carpetas secretas” (The secret files).
According to Semana's investigation, Army intelligence units spied on more than 130 people through the massive and indiscriminate collection of information to prepare military intelligence reports using open source tools (OSINT). These individuals' profiles included phone numbers, work and residential addresses, email addresses, information about children, relatives, colleagues, voting locations, and even traffic violations, Semana reported.
Those profiled included journalists, several of them American, but also social leaders, politicians, union members and NGOs, Semana reported at the time.
The information collected and connections made by the Army unjustifiably linked journalists to guerrilla groups, according to two USB flash drives that are evidence in the Inspector General's case, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) reported in a statement.
The team at Rutas del Conflicto found their names and photographs among the “secret files.”
Five years later, in a decision issued on May 2 and reported on May 13, the Inspector General's Office, which oversees public servants in the country, said the nine military personnel had committed a "serious disciplinary offense." This consisted of ordering, coordinating and executing unsupported “OSINT activities” against the journalists, according to the FLIP statement.
The nine military personnel, including a Brigadier General, were sanctioned with suspension from their posts and disqualification from exercising public duties for three to six months.
Although the decision "sets a precedent" and clarifies that the team was falsely linked to armed groups, Parra told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) that seeing articles and documents that hinted at this reopened the trauma of five years ago.
“I feel like this is a terrible thing because it puts us in a situation where, even when the Inspector General's Office says it's unfounded, knowing what this country is like, you come out feeling very uncomfortable […] as if defending ourselves. That's why I was very afraid that it would come out. But now we have to go out and confront it,” Parra said.
Despite progress in the case, press advocates say the sanctions are insufficient and hope criminal proceedings against those responsible will move forward.
Jonathan Bock, FLIP's executive director at the time he spoke with LJR, said that because the Inspector General's Office did not classify the conduct as "very serious" but rather as "serious," the sanctions were less than expected, such as permanent dismissal from the institutions.
“There’s frustration that there weren’t larger sanctions for the huge impact it had,” Bock said.
For example, Bock believes the decision does not consider the very case of Rutas del Conflicto, which is linked to a university and is therefore comprised of young journalists under 30 whose families were also seriously impacted. Or the case of Nick Casey, an American correspondent in Colombia for The New York Times who left the country in 2019 after being harassed by lawmakers who accused him of being involved with guerrilla groups. Or that of Andrea Aldana, a freelance journalist covering the armed conflict who went into exile in Spain in 2021.
"The other thing that's important to keep in mind is that this is also retaliation against journalists who were investigating matters involving the Army and the Police, such as the story of extrajudicial executions or embezzlement of public funds," Bock said.
For this reason, FLIP, which represents the Rutas del Conflicto team and Andrea Aldana, appealed the Inspector General's decision. Based on this recent decision, Bock said it is possible to attempt to push forward the investigation that is being conducted by the Attorney General's Office but that hasn’t progressed.
Through an official from the press office, the National Army responded to LJR that the institution respects the processes carried out by oversight and judicial entities. And that if individual responsibility is determined, "these people must be held accountable before the competent authorities."
"The Army has provided all available support and information to enable authorities to advance the investigations under the principle of harmonious collaboration between institutions," the institution added in its official response.
Founded 11 years ago, Rutas del Conflicto has been dedicated to covering the "reconstruction of memories of the war and the resilience of hundreds of communities across the country." Parra, who is also a professor at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, has led this project. Although Rutas del Conflicto is not part of the university, it is based there and is primarily made up of students and young professionals from that institution.
Parra is convinced that the Rutas team became a target of the Army due to a series of investigations they began conducting in 2019. In February of that year, Rutas requested information from the Army about agreements signed with mining and energy companies, in what the outlet determined to be conflicts of interest.
From there, a series of requests for information and even legal actions followed in response to the Army's refusal to hand over the information. The case even involved the then-commander of the Army, who filed a protective action against Parra.
Parra said the Army's response to the requests for information was "disproportionate," especially because journalists from the media outlet found a large portion of the contracts through the state platform that lists public contracts.
In July 2019, Rutas del Conflicto published its investigation on the mining and energy companies with La Liga Contra el Silencio.
By January 2020, Parra and Bock (from FLIP) had become aware of what was happening in the Army and the surveillance targeting journalists and others. According to Bock, the Rutas case was unique in that it was the only media outlet with its own file.
The story of the Army’s surveillance was only reported publicly by Semana in May 2020.
Parra, who until four weeks ago had access to the file during the proceedings before the Inspector General's Office, found several "murky" items. One of the most disturbing, he said, was a photograph of the Rutas team gathered for a Christmas dinner. Each team member had a number above their heads.
“I panicked,” recalls Parra, who, as not only the director but also the oldest, felt a responsibility for the safety of his young reporters. At the time, at least one of the team members targeted by this profiling was still a student.
“There were people who told me that I would be responsible if something happened to the kids,” he said.
The family lives of Parra and the journalists were also affected. Relatives began to press for information about what was happening at work. Some of the journalists went into exile, while others developed persecution syndrome or burnout.
Sources for articles stopped responding, and others demanded to meet in person, in the middle of a pandemic. Parra stopped covering the Army for almost a year and, for mental health reasons, accepted a Reporters Without Borders fellowship that took him to Madrid, Spain, for three months.
But the effects have continued. The Rutas team, which consisted of 25 people in 2020, is now down to five.
“I think it's inevitable not to relate it to the media crisis, but that definitely had an influence,” Parra said. “In terms of students approaching the project, in terms of people who felt threatened and left. I do believe this marked a before and after for the media outlet.”
But especially for Parra, and also for Bock from FLIP, after five years, doubts and questions remain unanswered: who ordered this surveillance, what was the purpose, and what was going to be done with that information, to name a few.
"It's clear that things were very focused on that incriminating approach. We'd like to know why. We'd like to know why they did this," said Parra, for whom these five years have been painful and the judicial proceedings have been revictimizing.
“It pains me greatly to return to this situation, to have the fact that they have documents that ‘link’ us (to illegal groups) become public,” the journalist added. “But when this comes to light, it's time to come forward and tell what happened, and we also believe that making it visible can help protect us [...] it's important for us to know, and to know it in a dignified manner.”
