Guillermo Bravo Vega

CPJ’s 2012 Impunity Index spotlights countries
where journalists are slain and killers go free

CPJ's Impunity Index ranks countries where killers of journalists go free

New York, April 30, 2008 -- Democracies from Colombia to India and Russia to the Philippines are among the worst countries in the world at prosecuting journalists' killers according to the Impunity Index, a list of countries compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists where governments have consistently failed to solve journalists' murders.

The Five Most Murderous Countries for Journalists

Colombian journalists continued paying an extremely heavy price for practicing their profession amid a 40-year-old civil war pitting two major leftist guerrilla groups against the Colombian army and right-wing paramilitary forces. At least four journalists were killed in reprisal for their work in 2003, and CPJ continues to investigate the deaths of three others.

New York, January 2, 2004—A total of 36 journalists were killed worldwide as a direct result of their work in 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This is a sharp increase from 2002, when 19 journalists were killed. The war in Iraq was the primary reason for the increase, as 13 journalists, more than a third of this year's casualties, were killed in hostile actions.

In fact, according to CPJ's statistics, the death toll in Iraq was the highest annual total from a single country since 24 journalists were killed in Algeria in 1995 at the height of civil strife between the government and Islamist militants.

Bogotá, Colombia, May 12, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about two Colombian journalists who have fled their homes. One fled after being shot, and the other left after receiving death threats. Both men reported frequently on the country’s 40-year-old civil war, which pits leftist guerrillas against the government and right-wing paramilitary militias.

On Tuesday, May 6, gunmen riding tandem on a motorcycle shot journalist José Iván Aguilar Castañeda while he was driving to Calor Estéreo radio, where he hosts his weekday morning program “Noticias Ya” (News Now) in the city of Villavicencio, Meta Department, the journalist told CPJ.

Bogotá, Colômbia, 12 de maio de 2003—O Comitê para a Proteção dos Jornalistas (CPJ, por sua sigla em inglês) está preocupado com dois jornalistas colombianos que abandonaram suas casas. Um escapou de ser baleado e o outro recebeu ameaças de morte. Ambos informavam com freqüência sobre a guerra civil de quase quatro décadas no país, que enfrenta as guerrilhas esquerdistas contra o governo e as milícias paramilitares de direita.

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply alarmed by the rapid escalation of violence against the press in Colombia in recent months. In addition to a wave of threats that has fostered a climate of fear among the media, two journalists were killed this week in separate attacks.

On Monday, April 28, at around 8 p.m., an unidentified gunman crept into the house of journalist Guillermo Bravo Vega, in the southern town of Neiva, Huila Department, and shot him once in the head and twice in the neck. Bravo, 65, died as he was being driven to a local hospital, police sources told CPJ.