The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, today condemned the recent killing of Colombian journalist Abelardo Liz, who was shot while covering a clash between government troops and protestors, and urged the Colombian government to take action against those threatening journalists with death.
Liz, an indigenous journalist working for Nación Nasa radio station, was killed on August 13, while covering an indigenous protest taking place in Corinto, in the north of Colombia’s Cauca state. He died on the way to hospital.
According to a Nación Nasa broadcast, Colombian armed forces began firing at the native protestors, members of the Liberación de la Madre Tierra (Liberation of Mother Earth) movement, with machine guns. A protestor was also killed in the gunfire and another injured.
Meanwhile, media reports from Colombia said that over the past two weeks some 12 journalists have received death threats. Jhonny Coral Benny and two other journalists in Ipiales were threatened through WhatsApp for their investigations into illegal migration and the transport of migrants through Colombia’s borders with Ecuador and Venezuela. Benny cites having received intimidating phone calls while working at Channel CNC. Another journalist, Mario Esteban Lopez, also cited similar threats in May for his critical coverage of the trafficking of migrants at Colombia’s borders.
Eight other journalists in Santa Marta were sent intimidating flyers through WhatsApp, allegedly from the National Liberation Army (ELN), stating that if they did not leave the country in 48 hours there ‘would be consequences’. They were targeted for their “extreme right-wing” ideology. However, the ELN denies involvement.
Similarly, Carlos Alfonso Pérez Cedeño, a journalist and correspondent for Caracol Televisión, received a threatening phone call from a self-identified FARC dissident, who claimed Cedeño would be declared a military objective if he did not attend a meeting in Venezuela.
“We call on Colombia to hold those responsible for the fatal shooting of Abelardo Lis to account”, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen. “We are also concerned by the reports of numerous threats against journalists, and urge the authorities to ensure that all such threats are properly investigated and that journalists in danger are given appropriate protection.”
