H. E. Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic
Santafé de Bogotá
Colombia
Vienna, 11 July 2001
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the murder of four Colombian journalists over a period of 12 days.
On 27 June, Pablo Emilio Parra Castańeda, a radio reporter, was killed by suspected left-wing guerrillas. Parra, head of the community radio station Planadas Cultural Estereo, was dragged by armed men from his home in the village of Planadas, Tolima province, and shot twice in the head.
On 4 July, Arquímedes Arias Henao, director of a local radio station, Fresno Estéreo, in Fresno, Tolima province, was in the station when an unidentified man entered and shot him three times.
On 6 July, José Dubiel Vásquez, director of the radio station La Voz de la Selva, a local affiliate of the national Caracol radio network, was killed by two men riding a motorcycle, who shot him twice outside his office in Florencia, Caquetá province.
On 8 July, Jorge Enrique Urbano Sánchez, a radio reporter, was killed by unidentified gunmen in the port city of Buenaventura. Urbano, who worked for a local radio station, Emisara Mar Estéreo, was shot four times while he was at a bar. Relatives said he had received death threats from unidentified groups.
Colombia has long proven to be the most dangerous country in the world to work in as a journalist. Last year, 11 journalists were killed – at least six of them because of their profession – by leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups, or organised criminals. The death toll thus far in 2001 has now grown to eight. In addition to the above-mentioned journalists, at least four others have been killed this year.
Flavio Bedoya, a regional correspondent for the Bogota-based Communist weekly Voz, was shot and killed on 27 April by unidentified men on motorcycles in the port city of Tumaco, Narińo province. His colleagues said that the murder was linked to his reporting on the activities of right-wing paramilitary groups.
Carlos Alberto Trespalacios, a former sports reporter, was shot three times in the head by masked gunmen in the city of Medellín on 30 April. Trespalacios, who had worked as a sportswriter for radio and television before becoming chief information officer of Medellín’s Sports and Recreation Institute, had allegedly told the authorities he had received death threats. The motive for his killing remains unknown.
Yesid Marulanda, a sports reporter for the local TV station, Notipacifico, was shot six times in the head by unidentified gunmen in the city of Cali on 3 May. His murder was blamed on paramilitaries.
Edgar Tabera Gaona, who worked for a local radio station, was shot dead on 17 May by suspected leftist guerrillas at his farm in the town of Guepsa, Santander province. A police spokesman said the gunmen were believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
IPI urges Your Excellency to ensure that there is a thorough investigation into all of these murders and that those responsible are brought to justice. We further urge the Colombian government to take all possible steps to stop the killing of journalists and the alarming impunity that has accompanied these crimes.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
