Freelancer
November 28, 1999, in El Playón, Colombia
Sánchez Tovar, a cameraman for Producciones Colombia, and Rincón Solano, a freelance cameraman, were murdered outside the town of El Playón, in the northeastern department of Santander.Local sources informed CPJ that the two cameramen had left Bucaramanga,
capital of Santander Department, early in the morning of November 28 to shoot a
video of the mayoral elections in El Playón. Armed individuals shot and killed
them on the road just outside of El Playón, where colleagues found their bodies
later that day. Both men died from bullet wounds to the head.
Sánchez Tovar owned Producciones Colombia, a Bucaramanga-based company that produced institutional and broadcast videos. Josue Jaimes Caballero, one of the mayoral candidates, had hired him as campaign videographer.
Sánchez Tovar then hired Rincón Solano, a freelance cameraman who had
formerly worked for the local production company Comuneros Televisión, to assist
him in the job.
Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.
