Index on Censorship » Colombia

Colombia: Rebels free French reporter

Alice Purkiss — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:32:32 +0000

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.

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Colombia: Bomb attack on minister-turned-journalist

Alice Purkiss — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:32:45 +0000

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.

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Colombia: French journalist suspected kidnapped

Marta Cooper — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:51:51 +0000

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.

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Colombia: Bogota mayor accused of press censorship

Alice Purkiss — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:16:19 +0000

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”.

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Colombia: Editor given suspended prison term

Alice Purkiss — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:50:10 +0000

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.

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Colombia: Former president Uribe labels journalists “terrorism sympathisers”

Marta Cooper — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:54:03 +0000

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.

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Doused matches save Columbian journalist in petrol attack

Index on Censorship — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:16:49 +0000

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.

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Colombia: Journalists threatened by paramilitary group

Intern — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:58:22 +0000

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”.

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Colombia: Journalist’s home firebombed

Laura MacPhee — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:28:59 +0000

On Wednesday 16 February, an unidentified group threw a firebomb at journalist Rodolfo Zambrano’s home in Bolivar. He was unharmed as he was not there at the time. The attack caused damage to the exterior of his house, but firefighters were able to stop the flames from spreading inside. Journalists frequently face harassment in the South American country. Reporters without Borders has placed Colombia in 145th place out of 178 countries for press freedom.

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Mexico and Colombia: Drug trafficking reporting targeted

Intern — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:43:00 +0000

In Mexico’s northeastern state of Sinaloa, the Noreste newspaper issued a statement saying that its facilities were the target of an armed attack on 1 September 2010. The attack took place after a reporter received a threatening phone call from unidentified members of an organised gang. They fired bullets at the Noreste building and placed a banner with a message accusing the federal government of protecting two men who have been accused of being drug-traffickers.

In Colombia, on 30 August 2010, journalist Marco Tulio Valencia, the editor of the El Norte newspaper in Mariquita in southern Colombia, was the target of an assassination attempt when an unidentified individual fired shots at him. Valencia’s newspaper has reported on small-scale drug trafficking networks in Mariquita and that he believes the assassination attempt and threats could be linked to those reports.

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