Bogotá, May 21, 2002—Two newspaper reporters and their driver were kidnapped by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on May 16 in northern Colombia. According to local police, the rebels freed one of the reporters the following day. Nidia Álvarez Mariño and Ramón Vásquez Ruiz of the Santa Martabased daily Hoy Diario del…
New York, May 9, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about a series of menacing threats against four Colombian journalists, including an incident yesterday. At around 6:30 a.m. on May 8, two men approached Carlos Pulgarín—a journalism professor at the Universidad de La Sabana, a private university in the capital, Bogotá—as he was…
Bogotá, April 26, 2002—On April 22 and 23, unidentified men threatened to kill television journalist Daniel Coronell and his 3-year-old daughter. Coronell, news director of “Noticias Uno,” a current affairs program on the Bogotá TV station Canal Uno, received threatening calls on his cellular phone and at his home and office after he aired an…
Bogotá, April 19, 2002—The campaign of presidential front-runner Álvaro Uribe Vélez said earlier this week that a radio network in central Colombia was targeted for a deadly April 7 bomb attack because the station had broadcast the candidate’s speeches. But network officials denied the claims and said the statements endangered the lives of their staff,…
Bogotá, April 18, 2002–A man being held by authorities in Colombia’s capital has confessed to murdering journalist Orlando Sierra, a newspaper editor and columnist who was shot and killed early this year, CPJ has learned. Luis Fernando Soto told investigators that he shot 42-year-old Sierra, deputy editor of La Patria newspaper, on a whim after…
Bogotá, April 15, 2002—A rocket exploded late Friday, April 12, near the studios of RCN Televisión in the Colombian capital, CPJ has learned. Local authorities said the station was intentionally targeted. The blast destroyed a brick wall surrounding the offices of a telephone company located less than 40 feet from the station in an industrial…
New York, April 12, 2002—Two members of a television news crew were shot and killed while covering fighting on Thursday between the Colombian army and leftist rebels, CPJ has learned. Héctor Sandoval, a cameraman with RCN Televisión, died early today. Wálter López, the crew’s driver, died on Thursday, said Rocío Arias, executive producer of RCN…
Bogotá, April 11, 2002—A Colombian television reporter received a death threat last week after reporting extensively on the country’s left-wing guerrilla movement, CPJ has learned. Carlos José Lajud works for the Bogotá station Citytv. On April 4, Lajud received a letter at the Citytv offices. “Our sincere condolences…for the death of Carlos Lajud,” read the…
Bogotá, April 9, 2002 — The body of Juan Carlos Gómez, an intern at a radio station in northern Colombia, was found floating in the Magdalena River on April 3, CPJ has learned. Authorities said he had been beaten to death. Gómez, 23, began working as an intern at La Voz de Aguachica (The Voice…
New York, March 29, 2002—Newspaper columnist Fernando Garavito recently fled Colombia after a series of events that made him fear for his life, CPJ has learned. Garavito, who writes a Sunday column for the Bogotá-based newspaper El Espectador, left Colombia for the United States on March 21 and has no plans to return. In a…