Attacks on the Press 1999: 1999 Death Toll: Listed by Country
[Click here for full list of documented cases] At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. In 1999, journalists in Sierra Leone witnessed rebels’ atrocities against civilians in the streets of Freetown. In the Balkans, journalists watched ethnic Albanians fleeing the deadly menace of Serbian police and paramilitaries. In…
Attacks on the Press 1999: United States
Since its founding in 1981, CPJ has, as a matter of strategy and policy, concentrated on press freedom violations and attacks on journalists outside the United States. CPJ aims to devote its efforts to those countries where journalists are most in need of international support and protection. As a result, we do not systematically monitor…
EDITOR FORCED INTO EXILE AFTER AVOIDING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
New York, March 14, 2000 — Francisco “Pacho” Santos Calderón, editor of Colombia’s largest daily newspaper, El Tiempo, fled the country on March 11 after an apparent attempt was made on his life. According to one of Santos’ colleagues, the assassins were hired by members of the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia’s…
Colombia: Journalist remains in captivity
New York, Feb. 15, 2000—CPJ is deeply concerned about the safety of Guillermo Cortés, editorial director of “Hora Cero,” a nightly television news program broadcast on Canal A in Bogotá, who was kidnapped on January 22 and remains missing. While no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, new evidence points to the Revolutionary Armed…
Director of TV news program kidnapped
New York, January 31, 2000 – CPJ is gravely concerned for the safety of Guillermo Cortés, director of “Hora Cero,” a nightly television news program broadcast on Canal A in Bogotá. Cortés was kidnapped on January 22 and has not been heard from since. Local journalists informed CPJ that six armed men kidnapped Cortés, known…
Colombia: Cameraman killed in leftist rebel attack
New York, December 3, 1999 — Pablo Emilio Medina Motta, a cameraman with the regional television station, TV Garzón, was killed by multiple shots to the head and back when more than 100 leftist guerrillas stormed the town of Gigante in Huila department. Six other people died and twenty were wounded in the attack. Medina…
Colombia: Two cameramen killed by unknown gunmen
New York, November 30, 1999 — CPJ is deeply concerned about the November 28 murder of cameramen Alberto Sánchez Tovar and Luis Alberto Rincón Solano outside the town of El Playón, in the north-eastern department of Santander. On the morning of November 28, the two cameramen left Bucaramanga, capital of Santander Department, to shoot a…
Colombia: Leftist rebels kidnap seven journalists
New York, November 1, 1999 — Leftist guerrillas abducted seven journalists whom they had invited to cover alleged atrocities committed by paramilitary forces against local farmers. The seven journalists were intercepted on October 29 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is the second Colombian media kidnapping in less than a…
Colombia: Cali newspaper office bombed
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its outrage over Sunday’s bomb attack on the Cali office of the Bogotá-based daily El Tiempo. We urge you ensure that this attack on press freedom is fully investigated and its authors duly punished.
Colombia: Newpaper office bombed in Cali
New York, November 17, 1999 — In a letter sent to Colombian President Andrés Pastrana on November 17, CPJ protested the November 14 bomb attack on the Cali offices of the daily El Tiempo. [Click here to read the letter.] CPJ also expressed concern for the deteriorating press freedom climate and urged the president to…