Guzmán Quintero Torres

Este jefe militar cultiva a periodistas, y también los asesina. Para Carlos Castaño, todo radica en la imagen.

This Colombian warlord cultivates journalists. He also murders them. For Carlos Castaño, it's all about image.

[Click here for full list of documented cases]

At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. In 1999, journalists in Sierra Leone witnessed rebels' atrocities against civilians in the streets of Freetown. In the Balkans, journalists watched ethnic Albanians fleeing the deadly menace of Serbian police and paramilitaries. In Indonesia, they recorded the violence of Indonesian-backed militias against supporters of political independence. Some who wrote about what they witnessed ended up dying because of the stories they told.

In a year that saw both an escalation of Colombia's armed conflict and a tentative beginning of peace negotiations, the press found itself in the crosshairs of nearly every party to the increasingly complicated civil war. Five journalists were killed in the line of duty, while scores of others were threatened, attacked, or kidnapped. Colombian journalists, many of whom had tolerated extremely dangerous working conditions for two decades, began leaving the country in unprecedented numbers.

New York, November 30, 1999 --- CPJ is deeply concerned about the November 28 murder of cameramen Alberto Sánchez Tovar and Luis Alberto Rincón Solano outside the town of El Playón, in the north-eastern department of Santander.

On the morning of November 28, the two cameramen left Bucaramanga, capital of Santander Department, 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.

New York, November 11, 1999 ­ CPJ is deeply concerned for the safety of seven Colombian journalists and their driver, who were kidnapped by leftist guerrillas yesterday while traveling to cover a right-wing paramilitary attack in Atánquez, in the northern department of Cesar.

Local sources informed CPJ that the journalists left the Cesar capital Valledupar at around 11:30 a.m. They were headed for the Atánquez district, a two-hour drive, to investigate an attack by right-wing paramilitary forces earlier that day. Later that afternoon, one of the journalists called from a mobile phone and left a message for a colleague in Valledupar, saying that he and his colleagues had been kidnapped. For security reasons, the hostage did not disclose the location where they are being held.

October 22, 1999

His Excellency Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic of Colombia
Casa de Nariño
Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia


Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its profound indignation about yesterday's brutal murder of radio journalist Rodolfo Julio Torres in the town of San Onofre, Sucre Department. We are urging you in the strongest possible terms to launch an exhaustive investigation into this lethal attack on press freedom, the third to have taken place in Colombia in less than three months.

September 21, 1999

His Excellency Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic of Colombia
Casa de Nariño
Santa Fe de Bogotá Colombia


Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to condemn the September 16 murder of Guzmán Quintero Torres, editor-in-chief of the daily El Pilónin Valledupar, capital of the northern Cesar Department. We urge you to ensure that those responsible for this heinous crime are brought to justice.

21 de septiembre de 1999

Su Excelencia Andrés Pastrana Arango
Presidente de la República de Colombia
Casa de Nariño
Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia


Your Excellency,

El Comité para Proteger a los Periodistas (CPJ) le escribe para condenar el asesinato el 16 de septiembre de Guzmán Quintero Torres, jefe de redacción del diario El Pilón de Valledupar, capital del departamento norteño de Cesar. Le exhortamos a garantizar que los responsables de este horrible crimen serán llevados a justicia.

September 21, 1999

His Excellency Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic of Colombia
Casa de Nariño
Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia


Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to condemn the September 16 murder of Guzmán Quintero Torres, editor-in-chief of the daily El Pilónin Valledupar, capital of the northern Cesar Department. We urge you to ensure that those responsible for this heinous crime are brought to justice.