DATE=3/24/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=COLOMBIA-VIOLENCE, PT II
NUMBER=5-46003
BYLINE=BILL RODGERS
DATELINE=BOGOTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A wave of murders, kidnappings and death
threats against journalists in Colombia in recent
months is having a chilling effect on the South
American nation's news media. As VOA's Bill Rodgers
reports from Bogota in this second of two reports
(first one issued 3/23/00, 5-45987), Colombia is
considered one of the most dangerous places
in the world for journalists to work.
TEXT: Colombia's ongoing violence affects people of all
walks of life. Not a day goes by when incidents of
murder, kidnapping, bombings or armed confrontations
are not reported. A lot of the violence is drug-
related or involves common criminals. But much of it
also is political, and is directly tied to Colombia's
decades-long guerrilla conflict between the government,
leftist rebels and, more recently, rightwing
paramilitary groups.
It is this political violence which is taking an
increasing toll on journalists, academics, and others
who help shape public opinion. The New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists says Colombia is the
third most dangerous place in the world for the press
to work. In assessing the situation for 1999,
Committee official Marylene Smeets (Eds: smAYtes) told
reporters in Washington this week that armed groups of
both the left and the right have targeted journalists.
/// SMEETS ACT ///
The press became an important weapon in Colombia's
armed conflict. All warring factions wanted the
journalists to spread their words (spread information
favorable to them), and punished journalists who
reported anything that wasn't in their favor.
///END ACT///
In the past six months, six journalists have been
killed in Colombia and another 15 have been kidnapped.
Death threats against numerous others - including the
news editor (Eds: Francisco Santos) of Colombia's
leading newspaper, El Tiempo - have forced dozens to
leave the country.
El Tiempo's editor for political affairs, Fidel Cano,
says freedom of the press in Colombia is threatened:
/// CANO SPANISH ACT ///
He says: there are a lot of forces, some known - others
more obscure - that do not like the truth, or do not
like what some journalists write. We live under siege,
Mr. Cano says, working under a lot of pressure.
All of Colombia's armed groups appear to be involved.
The country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, is believed to be
holding Guillermo Cortes - a prominent 73-year old
journalist and businessman who was kidnapped in
January. Death threats - which allegedly came from the
FARC - forced a popular television personality,
Francisco "Pacheco" Gonzalez, to flee the country
earlier this month.
FARC spokesman Raul Reyes denies the rebel group has
targeted journalists - or is responsible for the
kidnappings and death threats against the press. In a
recent interview, Mr. Reyes suggested T-V host Pacheco
left Colombia to accept a better-paying job abroad.
/// OPT ///
A leading FARC military commander, Jorge Briceno, who
is known by his nickname "Mono Jojoy", this week urged
"Pacheco" to return to Colombia, telling a local radio
network (Eds: Radio Caracol) he has nothing to fear.
/// MONO JOJOY SPANISH ACT ///
Please don't leave us forever, Pacheco, the guerrilla
commander said - and went on to offer him protection.
/// END OPT ///
Aside from the FARC, the leftist National Liberation
Army - the E-L-N -- along with rightwing paramilitary
groups, is believed to be involved in actions to
intimidate the press. Rightist death squads have
targeted journalists considered to be sympathetic to
the left - while the E-L-N uses kidnapping and
extortion as a means to earn money for its war against
the government.
This cauldron of violence affects news coverage -
according to El Tiempo's Fidel Cano.
/// CANO SPANISH ACT ///
He says: editors have to think twice about sending
reporters into certain risky areas. There's a warning
light that goes off, he says, after all this is not a
game.
More than a decade ago Colombian journalists were
targets of the huge drug cartels that existed then.
Mr. Cano himself received death threats in 1990 and his
uncle, Guillermo Cano, a prominent newspaper editor,
was killed in a car bomb explosion in 1986.
But the current situation is different, even though
some of the violence against journalists still comes
from drug dealers. However, the attacks against the
press are occurring just as the prospects for peace
appear to be brighter. The FARC and the government are
holding peace talks to end the almost 40-year conflict.
Yet the Colombian press, which is reflecting the
diverging views and the debate surrounding the peace
process, now finds itself under siege as never before.
(Signed)
NEB/WFR/KL
24-Mar-2000 13:12 PM EDT (24-Mar-2000 1812 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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