His Excellency Álvaro Uribe Vélez
President of the Republic
Santafé de Bogotá
Colombia
Vienna, 9 April 2003
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the murder of a radio journalist in Santander department.
According to IPI’s sources, Emeterio Rivas, who worked for Calor Estéreo radio station, was shot to death by unidentified gunmen on 7 April as he walked out of a restaurant in the city of Barrancabermeja, north of the capital Bogotá.
We are informed that Rivas, who reported on cases of municipal corruption, had received death threats from leftist rebels.
Colombia has long proven to be the most dangerous country in the world to work in as a journalist. Particularly in the provinces, journalists who attempt to expose illegal activities and corruption, or report on the country’s four-decade civil war, continue to face threats, harassment, physical attacks and death.
Increasingly, journalists are being singled out as “military targets” by the country’s armed groups – in particular the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary umbrella group, but also the two leftist guerrilla forces, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) – who use intimidation and violence to ensure they are portrayed favourably by the media.
According to IPI’s statistics, at least 40 journalists have been killed in Colombia since January 2000. Last year, 15 journalists were killed, at least eight of them because of their work. In addition to Rivas, at least two other journalists have been killed this year.
Oscar Salazar Jaramillo, owner and manager of Radio Sevilla, was found stabbed to death in his home in Sevilla, Valle del Cauca department, on 10 March. Salazar founded Radio Sevilla, an affiliate of Radio Caracol, in 1954. He presented a weekly news programme, “Sevilla en 7 días”, in which he reported on corruption in the municipal government.
Luis Eduardo Alfonso Parada, a correspondent for the daily newspaper El Tiempo and the radio station Meridiano 70, was killed by unidentified gunmen on 18 March as he left his house in the city of Arauca, Arauca department. Known for his reporting on cases of corruption, Alfonso had received threats and sought protection under the Colombian government’s Programme for the Protection of Journalists and Social Communicators.
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 accompanies these crimes.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
