August 13, 1999 His Excellency Andrés Pastrana Arango President of the Republic of Colombia Casa de Narino Santa Fe de Bogotá, COLOMBIA Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep sorrow over today’s cold-blooded murder of radio journalist Jaime Garzón, one of Colombia’s most popular political humorists. CPJ urges…
“When the bombs began falling in Yugoslavia on March 24, the seven Serb journalists who happened to be visiting our offices in New York during a tour of the United States all ran for the phones. They were worried about the families they had left behind, but they also feared for the survival of Serbia’s…
Washington, D.C., March 25 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported today in its annual worldwide study of press freedom that at least 118 journalists were in prison in 25 countries at the end of 1998, and 24 journalists in 17 countries were murdered during the year in reprisal for their reporting.
May 3, 1999 Bogotá, Colombia — In 1986 when El Espectador editor Guillermo Cano was gunned down at a traffic light in downtown Bogotá, everyone in Colombia knew who was behind the hit. Medellín cartel leader Pablo Escobar reportedly held several lavish victory parties to celebrate the murder. There were no parties on May 19, 1998,…
Bogotá, Colombia 3 de mayo de 1999 — En 1986, cuando el director de El Espectador Guillermo Cano fue asesinado en un semáforo de Bogotá, todos en Colombia sabían quién ordenó el ataque. Pablo Escobar, cabecilla del cartel de Medellín, supuestamente ofreció varias fiestas extravagantes para celebrar la muerte de Cano. Pero no hubo ninguna fiesta…
“Investigative reporter Alejandra Matus spent six years researching The Black Book of Chilean Justice. But her book, a historical exposé of the judiciary’s lack of independence, spent less than two days on Chilean bookshelves: On April 14, police confiscated its entire press run at the order of a Santiago Appeals Court judge. That same day,…
Colombian journalists have long been in a no-win situation. If they call for peace or for greater public participation in elections, they risk being targeted by guerrillas or paramilitary death squads. If they report on official corruption, they become targets of powerful political figures or their underworld partners.
The publication in March of CPJ’s Attacks on the Press in 1996 was the culmination of months of intense preparation by CPJ staff, investigating and verifying more than 1,000 documented cases of violations of press freedom worldwide. The 376-page volume, edited by Publications Director Alice Chasan, is the longest and most comprehensive of CPJ’s annual…
Silenced: The Unsolved Murders if Immigrant Journalists in the United States, published by the Committee to Protect Journalists in December 1994, cover shot shows the body of New York investigative journalist Manuel De Dios Unanue being removed from his favorite restaurant in Queens, where he was murdered on orders from Colombian drug traffickers. (March 11,…