Posts Tagged ‘Colombia’
May 31st, 2012
Colombian rebel group
Farc has
freed a French reporter, just over one month after they took him hostage. Roméo Langlois
was kidnapped during a fire fight between the rebels and Colombia’s military forces on on 28 April, and has been held captive since. Langlois, a reporter for France24, had accompanied soldiers who were on a mission to destroy Farc cannabis farms whilst making a documentary on drug trafficking in the country. The
journalist claimed his release was used as propaganda, but said he was treated well during his 33-day captivity.
May 17th, 2012
A former interior minister-turned-journalist was targeted in a
bomb attack in
Colombia earlier this week. Fernando Londoño Hoyos, who is now a radio station programme director and a columnist for various newspapers, was injured after a bomb was thrown onto his car bonnet in Bogotá. Londoño survived the attack, but his driver and bodyguard were killed and 39 others were injured. It is unclear who was behind the bombing.
May 1st, 2012
Update 02 May 2012: Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) confirmed in a statement today that they are holding French journalist Roméo Langlois prisoner.
A French television journalist injured during a clash between Colombian Army troops and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) has gone missing and
may have been kidnapped by the rebels according to Colombian and French officials. Roméo Langlois, a correspondent for France 24 and a contributor to Paris daily Le Figaro, disappeared on Saturday. Langlois had joined the army unit to cover an anti-drug raid in the southern region of Caqueta.
January 19th, 2012
A
Colombian news network has accused Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro of operating a “
totalitarian” approach to the press. In a
web article published on Tuesday, CM& said Petro handling of the press was on an “alarming and disturbing” slope. The allegations followed a recent press conference on a bullfighting ban, where Petro allegedly refused to allow journalists to use their own equipment CM& claims the Mayor’s team provided their own, edited footage instead. The Mayor claimed the allegations were “insulting”.
October 14th, 2011
The editor of a
Colombian monthly newspaper has been handed a 20-month
suspended sentence and a $5,500 fine. Luis Agustín González, who is both founder and editor of
Cundinamarca Democrática, was convicted of criminal libel yesterday, after he published
an article critical of local politician. In a 2008 article, González expressed his dismay that Maria Leonor Serrano had announced she would be a senate candidate in the 2010 elections. The article also referred to allegations of corruption throughout her career, and covered a range of disappearances and assassinations which occurred during her tenure as a town mayor.
August 31st, 2011
Following the publication of
stories in the Washington Post earlier this month that allege former Colombian president
Álvaro Uribe Vélez may have been involved in illegal actions using the national intelligence service with the help of the US, the former leader
accused the articles’ writers of being sympathisers of terrorism and accomplices of leftist guerrillas. The journalists in question are
Juan Forero, the Washington Post’s Andean region correspondent, and
Claudia Julieta Duque, a reporter who works in
Colombia.
June 7th, 2011
Two men
kidnapped Channel 22 director Mario Esteban López last night (6 June), tied a rope around his neck and forced him to drive to a secluded area where they poured gasoline on him. Fortunately the abductors’ matches also got covered in petrol and failed to light, a police car then drove by, frightening the men away. López claims he was
targeted for his reports on drug trafficking.
February 22nd, 2011
Journalists and human rights groups in Colombia have received alarming
threats from Aguilas Negras, an extreme right wing paramilitary group. The groups and individuals received a
document signed by the “Central Command of the Black Eagles” warning them that their lives are in danger. Aguilas Negras has targeted journalists in the past: one
report accused the group of imposing a “reign of terror, killing journalists or forcing them to censor themselves or flee the country”.
