Colombian radio host dies of injuries from shooting
New York, March 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalist mourns the death of Colombian radio commentator Gustavo Rojas Gabalo, who died Monday of injuries he suffered in a February 4 shooting outside a local supermarket in the northwestern city of Montería, Córdoba province. Rojas, known as “El Gaba,” died in the Salucoop Clinic in Medellín,…
In meeting with CPJ, Colombian president pledges support for provincial journalists
Bogotá, Colombia, March 15, 2006–Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez today expressed support for the work of provincial journalists who report under threat of violence and said that any official who impedes their work “is committing a crime against democracy.” Uribe issued the statement at the urging of a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists,…
Newspaper reporter flees after death threat
New York, March 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats against a reporter for the Colombian newspaper Vanguardia Liberal which says it is also the target of government surveillance. Jenny Manrique said she fled the city of Bucaramanga, in the western province of Santander, in January after receiving death threats for…
Attacks on the Press 2005: CPJ Releases Attacks on the Press in Four Cities
New York, February 14, 2006–Highlighting the global nature of its press freedom advocacy work, the Committee to Protect Journalists today released its annual press freedom survey Attacks on the Press in four cities: Bangkok, Cairo, London and Washington, D.C.
Attacks on the Press in 2005: Headlines
January 11: A killing in Colombia reinforces self-censorship — Gunmen kill radio news host Julio Hernando Palacios Sánchez as he drives to work in Cúcuta. Attacked from all sides, the Colombian press censors itself to an extraordinary degree, CPJ later reports. Probing journalists are killed, detained, or forced to flee. Verified news is suppressed, and…
Attacks on the Press in 2005: Introduction
By Ann CooperOn May 2, when the Committee to Protect Journalists identified the Philippines as the world’s most murderous country for journalists, the reaction was swift. “Exaggerated,” huffed presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, who was practiced at dismissing the mounting evidence. He had called an earlier CPJ analysis of the dangers to Philippine journalists “grossly misplaced…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Colombia
COLOMBIA In May, CPJ identified Colombia as one the world’s five most murderous countries for journalists, a notoriety earned by 12 work-connected slayings in the country since 2000. Over the past decade, 28 journalists in Colombia have been killed for their work. Still, deadly violence tapered off for the second consecutive year, with only one…
Colombian reporter threatened, forced to flee
New York, February 9, 2006—A Colombian reporter was forced to flee the province of Caquetá after receiving death threats following her published interview with a guerrilla leader, the journalist said this week. Olga Cecilia Vega’s forced departure from the city of Florencia is the third case in 2006 in which a provincial Colombian journalist fled…