Journalists threatened with death in three Colombian states
Journalists threatened with death in three Colombian states
Bogotá, September 30, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats against numerous journalists in different states in Colombia over the past week and calls on authorities to ensure the journalists' safety. All of the journalists had reported on criminal activities in the region.
"Local criminal groups are unabashedly and publicly threatening journalists as a means of silencing reporting on their activities," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas, from New York. "Authorities must investigate these threats and bring those responsible to justice so these intimidating messages do not continue. The victims are not only the journalists but the public, which is deprived of information on criminal activity in Colombia."
On Sunday, the drug trafficking group Los Urabeños threatened in an email pamphlet to kill eight journalists unless they fled the cities of Buenaventura and Cali in Valle del Cauca state, according to news reports. The journalists cover criminal justice issues in both cities. The Urabeños group is one of Colombia's largest crime gangs.
It is not clear if the journalists have left the cities. Some of them have asked that their names not be publicized. One, Henry Ramírez, a photographer for the Buenaventura newspaper Q´Hubo, told CPJ he planned to meet with his editors to decide whether or not to continue reporting in Buenaventura.
More:
https://cpj.org/2014/09/journalists-threatened-with-death-in-three-colombi.php
