In just under two weeks, Colombian journalists have had to face one of their greatest fears: the resurgence of violence as a means to muzzle freedom of expression commonly used during the height of armed groups and drug traffickers.
Dignitaries, heads of states, journalists and advocates arrived in San José, Costa Rica yesterday, Thursday, May 2, for the welcoming reception of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s World Press Freedom Day conference.
With six countries listed without a free press, including three countries with some of the highest levels of impunity in the world for press crimes, Latin American freedom of expression is at its lowest levels since 1989.
Facing the possibility that three more cases of killed journalists might expire this year, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, FLIP, demanded that Colombia's Attorney General take all the necessary steps to bring the cases to justice, said the organization in a statement.
Colombian journalist Yesid Toro has been forced to leave his city after threats against his life, reported the newspaper El Espectador. Threats against judicial reporters are not uncommon in Cali Colombia; however, on this occasion members of the Judicial Investigations Section (SIJIN) of the National Police recommended that he leave the city, added the newspaper.
A Colombian journalist has been threatened by one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Colombia after reporting on the war over drug distribution in the neighborhoods of Ibagué, said the newspaper El Espectador.
Colombian reporters covering a coffee workers’ strike in the departments of Hulia and Tolima face violence from police forces and lack adequate protection, according to a March 8 letter from Reporters Without Borders
Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and former president Álvaro Uribe were unable to reach an agreement in the lawsuit for libel and defamation that Duque filed against Uribe, reported Caracol Radio.
A Colombian prosecutor with the human rights unit ordered the arrest of seven former officials with the country’s intelligence center who are being accused of psychological torture against a journalist, Caracol Radio’s news portal reported.
A Colombian journalist received a letter bomb on Thursday, March 7, reported the website Caracol Radio. Journalist Juan David Betancur found the explosive at his home in the city of Dabebia, Antioquia, added the website.
In what has become a historic decision, the Council of State of Colombia ordered the National Police to correct a statement given in 1996 that affected two businessmen, said the newspaper El Tiempo. The Director of the Police will have to give a press conference and correct the information given to a television news program as an “exclusive” that linked two businessmen with a drug cartel, said the paper.
Two Colombian journalists claimed they were physically and verbally attacked by a former congressman and his wife in the view of police officers, who did nothing to stop the assault, reported the Colombian Federation of Journalists (FECOLPER in Spanish). The attack took place in Sincelejo, Sucre when the two journalists tried to cover a suspected robbery at the home of former Congressman Héctor Vergara, added FECOLPER.