Marisol Revelo Barón

IN A DEVASTATING YEAR FOR COLOMBIA, journalists were murdered, assaulted, threatened, and kidnapped. Many fled into exile. With the peace process that began in 1999 largely moribund, a nearly four-decade conflict that pits two major leftist guerrilla groups against the army and right-wing paramilitary forces continued to escalate throughout the year. All the warring factions targeted journalists.

Three journalists were killed in reprisal for their work in 2000, according to CPJ research. CPJ continues to investigate the cases of four more Colombian journalists whose violent deaths last year may have been related to their professional work.

July 7, 2000


Mr. Alfonso Gómez Méndez
Attorney General of Colombia
Bogotá, Colombia


Dear Mr. Gómez,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its sorrow over the July 4 assassination of Marisol Revelo Barón, a journalist based in Tumaco in the southwestern department of Nariño. We urge you to see to it that the perpetrators of this crime are brought to justice swiftly.