His Excellency Andrés Pastrana
President of Colombia
Santafé de Bogotá
Colombia

Vienna, 16 August 1999

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the killing of popular Colombian journalist Jaime Garzón.

On 13 August, Garzón, 39, a beloved satirist known for his scathing parodies of politicians, was gunned down by two unidentified assailants on motorcycles as he was driving to the radio station, Radionet, where he had a morning show. We understand that there have been anonymous claims of responsibility from callers who said they represented right-wing paramilitary death squads, but that the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, (AUC), a paramilitary umbrella group, has denied its involvement. According to Garzón’s friends and colleagues, the journalist had recently received threats from AUC chief Carlos Castańo.

Garzón had served as an intermediary between Marxist rebels and the families of kidnap victims and had been recently named to a team of influential civilians entrusted with starting peace talks between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s second largest rebel group.

Colombia has long proven the most dangerous country in Latin America to work in as a journalist. In 1998, ten journalists were killed – at least four of them for their investigative work. Eight other journalists were kidnapped and later released by leftist guerrillas or right-wing paramilitary groups.

IPI, the global network of editors and media executives, urges Your Excellency to ensure that there is a thorough investigation into Garzón’s murder and that those responsible for his slaying 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