Americas

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…

When is official control of the press necessary? Never, say U.S. press freedom advocates. But in Kosovo, many local journalists support a new regulatory board designed to censor hate speech.

When is official control of the press necessary? Never, say U.S. press freedom advocates. But in Kosovo, many local journalists support a new regulatory board designed to censor hate speech.

When is official control of the press necessary? Never, say U.S press freedom advocates. But in Kosovo, many local journalists support a new regulatory board designed to censor hate speech.

New York, December 1, 1999 — In a major step forward for press freedom in Panama, the country’s Legislative Assembly approved a bill repealing some of the more onerous provisions of the country’s “gag laws.” The new bill, passed last night with the approval of 70 of the Legislative Assembly’s 71 members, repeals part of…

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…

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…

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.

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…

New York, November 15, 1999 — On Sunday, November 14, the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) released the last of seven journalists they had kidnapped on Wednesday, November 10. The journalists were on their way to cover a right-wing paramilitary attack in Atánquez, in the northern department of Cesar. Five of the seven…