The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged Colombian authorities to remain vigilant in helping ensure the safety of the country’s journalists following the revelation Monday of a plan to assassinate a respected reporter together with two civil society researchers.

Officials at Colombia’s national journalist-protection unit announced they had raised security for freelance reporter Gonzálo Guillén as well as for León Valencia and Ariel Ávila, analysts working for the New Rainbow Corporation (Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris), a think-tank centred on Colombia’s long-running internal armed conflict, now the subject of comprehensive peace negotiations. Valencia is also a columnist for the weekly magazine Semana.

The director of the protection unit, Andrés Villamizar, told national media that an unidentified source had tipped the department off about the planned killings, for the purpose of which a hired killer had reportedly already entered Bogotá, where the three men are based. News reports suggested that police had learned of the alleged hitman’s name, but had not yet apprehended that individual.

“This is the first time in a long time that we have had such detailed and concrete information [about the planned killing of a journalist],” Villamizar stated, according to reports. “[We had] the place where the attack was going to be carried out, the exact victims, and a source whom we trust; for that reason we have taken corresponding measures to strengthen the protection plan … We will not allow for these plans to be carried out.”

Valencia told local media he believed that the plan was likely related to reports the three had published in 2011 linking certain state and local politicians to banned paramilitary groups, some of whom are now the targets of investigations by the Colombian attorney general’s office. Guillén had produced a series of television documentaries on the subject.

“IPI is deeply alarmed by, and strongly condemns, the reported attempt to assassinate Gónzalo Guilén, León Valencia, and Ariel Ávila and we urge Colombia’s journalist protection unit to guarantee their safety” IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills said. “Their efforts to inform the public about the possible illegal activities of elected officials clearly demonstrate why democracies need – and must therefore protect – investigative journalists.”

He added: “This is particularly true in the context of Colombia’s ongoing process of peace, disarmament, and restitution, which may bring to light actions that some would rather keep hidden but which the Colombian people have a right to know about.”

IPI also urged police to immediately clarify the murder of radio journalist Alberto Lázaro del Valle, who was shot multiple times as he left his station near the northern city of Cali.

Authorities have said that while several possible motives are being investigated, the killing was not related to Lázaro del Valle’s profession.  A reward of COL$ 50 million (€21,000) is being offered for information on the gunmen.  The Colombian Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP) stated that it had never registered threats against the journalist.

“In the absence of an obvious motive, the possibility that Alberto Lázaro del Valle was targeted because of his journalistic activity should not be dismissed out of hand,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi stated.  “We urge local authorities to conduct an swift, open investigation into Mr. Lázaro del Valle’s murder.”

The news of the planned killings came on the heels of an armed attack, on May 1, against Semana’s Ricardo Calderón, an internationally renowned investigative journalist. Two unknown subjects open fire on Calderón vehicle on a road between Girardot and Bogotá, with at least five bullets piercing the vehicle. The journalist, who has exposed several major human rights scandals in Colombia recently, escaped unharmed.

Last week, the Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP), a local press freedom NGO, denounced the appearance of a flyer declaring eight journalists working in the northeastern city of Valledupar to be “militia targets” and giving them 24 hours to leave. The flyer was signed by a militia apparently opposed to efforts to restore land seized from previous owners by paramilitary groups and narcotics traffickers in the area, a topic that the eight journalists had been covering recently.

Colombia’s protection unit has repeated its offer of security to Calderón, who had previously not applied for the necessary risk assessment. President Juan Manuel Santos revealed yesterday to the media that 90 journalists currently benefit from some form of state security protection. The unit has generally been praised by press freedom advocates and been adopted as a model for other countries experiencing media-related violence, such as Mexico.

Speaking at the National Press Freedom Forum on Tuesday, Santos declared: “I want to make it very clear that we in the government are more than prepared, totally committed, to get to the bottom of any incident that constitutes an attack against the fundamental right of Colombians to be well informed.”