One Province Illustrates Colombia’s Struggle with Impunity
The inability to solve journalist murders in Arauca feeds an atmosphere of hostility and intimidation for the media there. By John Otis Gen. Rodolfo Palomino, Colombian police chief, writes a message for a campaign supporting FARC demobilization in Tame, Arauca province, on September 18, 2013. (Reuters/Jose Miguel Gomez)
Statute of limitations, the challenge for Colombian justice
The issue of impunity affects all Colombian citizens’ access to real justice; it is not only a problem for crimes against journalists. Several human rights bodies and non-governmental organizations agree that Colombia dwells in a striking situation of impunity, especially concerning crimes committed during the ongoing armed conflict.
Attacks on the Press 2009: Colombia
Top Developments • Provincial journalists face threats from all sides in civil conflict. • Convictions gained in one journalist murder; progress reported in other cases. Key Statistic 2003: Year that national intelligence agents began spying on journalists and other critics. The strained relationship between the government and the Bogotá-based independent press worsened after news media…
The long road ahead after masterminds’ conviction
The conviction of the masterminds of José Emeterio Rivas’ murder did not surprise his colleagues in Barrancabermeja, a city in the northern Santander province, where the journalist was shot in 2003. The former mayor’s involvement in the crime and his relationship with paramilitary forces was a well-known secret in the city. Despite witnesses’ fear and…
Press freedom in the news 1/23/2009
Our alert released yesterday about the landmark decision to convict three Colombian officials in the 2003 murder of radio commentator José Emeterio Rivas is receiving coverage around the world today. The Associated Press has stories in both English and Spanish and the Swedish-language Medie Varlden newspaper has coverage.
In landmark case, ex-officials convicted in slaying
New York, January 22, 2009–The convictions of three former public officials on charges of plotting the 2003 murder of Colombian radio commentator José Emeterio Rivas represent a historic step forward in the campaign to end impunity in the killings of journalists, CPJ said today. The three are the first masterminds to be convicted and imprisoned…
Attacks on the Press 2007: Colombia
COLOMBIA The national press played a crucial role in exposing illegal paramilitary activities and links between paramilitary leaders and leading politicians. Provincial journalists, working in areas where paramilitaries and other illegal armed groups were prevalent, faced many challenges in trying to report this and other sensitive stories. Paramilitary fighters were behind the majority of documented…
COLOMBIA: Two politicians arrested for 2003 journalist murder
September 13, 2007 Posted September 21, 2007 José Emeterio Rivas, Calor Estéreo KILLED Two local politicians have been arrested by Colombian authorities in the northern city of Barrancabermeja in connection with the April 2003 Rivas murder, according to press reports.