Radio journalist flees his home after guerrilla threats
New York, May 25, 2007—Colombian radio journalist Rodrigo Callejas has been forced to flee his home in the western Tolima province after receiving death threats from an alleged guerrilla commander. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to provide Callejas with the necessary protection to allow him to work without fear of…
CPJ urges Colombia to probe tapping of journalists’ phones
New York, May 15, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to fully investigate the illegal tapping of journalists’ telephone lines. The government acknowledged on Monday that the national police have improperly listened in on the telephone conversations of public officials, opposition members, and journalists.
COLOMBIA: Photographer threatened after denouncing police attack
MAY 9 and 10, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 José David Martínez, Vanguardia Liberal THREATENED Martínez, a photographer for the Bucaramanga-based daily Vanguardia Liberal, received two telephone threats after giving a sworn statement to the attorney general’s office on a February police attack against him. Bucaramanga is in the western province of Santander.
Two Colombian journalists flee after death threats and murder plot
New York, March 27, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats against Colombian journalist Germán Hernández, who fled his hometown, and a murder plot against journalist Darío Arizmendi, who fled the country this month. “We are concerned by the death threats against our colleague Germán Hernández, as well as by allegations of…
Unidentified gunmen in Colombia fire shots outside paper’s offices
New York, February 22, 2007—Unidentified gunmen fired shots outside the offices of the Cali-based bimonthly publication La Razón on Tuesday, injuring three people. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the incident was an attack against the paper’s director, Édgar Buitrago Rico, who had been threatened with death. At 3: 45 p.m. on Tuesday,…
Colombia: Radio Journalist Flees Home Following Threats From Guerrilla Group
New York, February 8, 2008–Colombian journalist José Joaquín Chávez was forced to leave his home in Anzoátegui, in central Tolima province, after receiving several death threats from alleged members of a leftist guerrilla group. Chávez, director of the Anzoátegui-based community radio station Acción Estéreo and correspondent for the regional radio station La Voz del Tolima,…
Attacks on the Press in 2006: Introduction
By Joel SimonAs Venezuelan elections approached in November, President Hugo Chávez accused news broadcasters of engaging in a “psychological war to divide, weaken, and destroy the nation.” Their broadcast licenses, he said, could be pulled–no idle threat in a country where a vague 2004 media law allows the government to shut down stations for work…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists
ALGERIA: 2 Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995 Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four…