Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish) called on the Attorney General and the Ministry of the Interior to promptly investigate recent death threats made against journalists in early September. These threats were made by an alleged paramilitary group Águilas Negras.
News of the murder of journalist Jaime Garzón Forero on Aug. 13, 1999, shocked Colombia. At dawn that day, assassins ended Garzón’s life with five shots as he was driving in his car to the station Radionet where he worked.
One day after the 19-year anniversary of the murder of Colombian journalist Jaime Garzón Forero, a second conviction in the crime against him was reported.
In Colombia, civil society has made a series of appeals to the State to stop the wave of attacks and threats against journalists and social leaders that has been taking place with increasing intensity over the last four years, according to the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish).
The regions of Cauca and Valle del Cauca recently saw the loss of two journalists in less than 24 hours early this month. Although neither had previously reported any threats, their deaths occur at a time of increasing violence against the press.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee issued a decision recognizing the violation of different human rights of journalist Lydia Cacho by the Mexican State after her arbitrary detention in 2005.
A Colombian court found the State responsible for not protecting the right to life of Edison Alberto Molina Carmona, a lawyer and radio journalist in Antioquia who was killed in 2013.
When at least seven journalists were threatened in less than a week, alarms rang in the country. The victims of these threats have recognized careers in the country, and in some cases they have been victims of other attacks in the past.
The Attorney General’s Office of Ecuador announced the capture of “Cherry,” who they said is the alleged material author of the abduction of the journalistic team from Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio.
Colombian authorities announced the capture of the alleged fourth in command for the Oliver Sinisterra Front who they said was responsible for the custody of the Ecuadorian journalists who were abducted in March, and later killed.
Reports on pediatric healthcare in Venezuela and illegal plastic surgery in Colombia were awarded with the Roche Health Journalism Prize on July 5.
The Colombian and Ecuadoran governments confirmed that three bodies found in Tumaco, Colombia belong to the El Comercio reporting team that was abducted on March 26 while reporting in the border region.