"One year ago, on Sept. 19, 2021, journalist Marcos Efraín Montalvo was murdered in Tuluá, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. [...] His murder created an atmosphere of self-censorship and made visible the risks faced by the press in the region.
For the [Colombian] Prosecutor's Office, one of the hypotheses is that the murder was related to Montalvo's journalistic work. However, this past year it has not been solved who ordered the murder and what their motivations were. The efforts of the Attorney General's Office have been aimed at capturing the material perpetrators, who are the weakest link in the entire criminal chain. [...]
For the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, by its Spanish acronym), these advances do not dismantle the risk faced by reporters who denounce local interest issues in Tuluá. Therefore, there has been no reparation in terms of truth-finding nor recognition of the distinct risk to the local press. It is essential for the State to prosecute the entire criminal chain and, thus, show its commitment in the fight against impunity for this type of crime."
