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…
New York, April 12, 2002—Venezuelan journalist Jorge Tortoza died last night after being shot in the head while covering the violent clashes in the capital, Caracas, that forced Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías to resign this morning, CPJ has confirmed. Eurídice Ledezma, a Venezuelan journalist and political analyst, told CPJ that Tortoza was shot by…
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…
New York, April 11, 2002—A draft Panamanian press law contains a troubling provision that would require all journalists in the country to hold a license in order to practice journalism. The proposed legislation is currently before the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, a government agency announced that it would fine violators of an existing law that imposes…
Washington, D.C., July 13, 2001 — A CPJ delegation met with Eritrean ambassador to the U.S. Gima Asmeron to express its deep concern about 15 journalists alleged to have been jailed or forcibly conscripted for military service. CPJ first raised the issue in a June 7 letter to Eritrean Justice Minister Foazia Hashim. In her…
New York, April 10, 2002—The editor of a fortnightly publication that criticized alleged corruption at a university in the southern city of Arequipa has received death threats, CPJ has learned. Mabel Cáceres Calderón, editor of El Búho, works in the afternoon at the engineering sciences library of the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (UNSA). On…
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, April 2, 2002—CPJ welcomes the recent decision of a U.S. district judge to quash a subpoena served on Dolia Estévez, the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Mexican daily El Financiero. Estévez had been ordered to hand over material related to a 1999 news article about the Hank family of Mexico, which has been…