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Attacked
March 16
Raul Benoit, Univision, ATTACKED, THREATENED
Benoit, a Bogota correspondent for the Miami-based television network Univisi—n, was shot at by two unidentified gunmen while driving with his wife and children in northwestern Bogot‡. The assailants, on motorcycles, fired shots at Benoit's car but were greeted in return with a hail of gunfire from the journalist and his two bodyguards, whom he hired after an assassination attempt in 1990. No one in Benoit's car was injured. Prior to the attack, Benoit received death threats after filing a series of stories on the Cali drug cartel and the political crisis in Colombia. In a letter to Colombian President Ernesto Samper, CPJ urged him to issue a public statement condemning all attacks and threats against the press and to conduct an immediate investigation into the attempted assassination of Benoit.
August 29
Luis Alberto Mino, El Tiempo, ATTACKED
Camilo Chaparro, Noticiero CM&, ATTACKED
Gloria Tisnes, Noticiero Nacional, ATTACKED
Jaime Orlando Gaitan, Caracol 7:30, ATTACKED
Maribel Orsorio, QAP Noticias, ATTACKED
Mino, a reporter for the Bogota daily El Tiempo, and four reporters for Bogot‡-based television stations--Chaparro of Noticiero CM&; Tisnes of Noticiero Nacional; Gaitan of Caracol 7:30; and Orsorio of QAP Noticias--were fired upon by soldiers in the village of Morelia in the Caqueta department of Colombia. The reporters were covering a demonstration by coca cultivators against government prohibitions of small-scale local producers. They were clearly identified as journalists by brightly colored flak jackets bearing the names of their respective news organizations. No one was injured. CPJ wrote a letter on Aug. 30 to President Ernesto Samper urging him to publicly condemn the attack and begin an investigation.
August 29
Luis Gonzalo Velez ("Richard"), Cadena 1, ATTACKED
Velez, a cameraman with "Colombia 12:30," a news program carried on television station Cadena 1, was beaten repeatedly by three soldiers with the butts of their G-3 rifles while he was covering a demonstration by coca cultivators in the village of Morelia in the Caqueta department. The soldiers also tried to confiscate film from Velez's camera. He had taken pictures of the soldiers firing upon farm workers. Velez was taken to the hospital for treatment and later transported to Bogota. CPJ wrote a letter to the Colombian government denouncing the beating.
December 16
Juan Gomez Martinez, El Colombiano, ATTACKED
A van packed with dynamite exploded in Medell’n outside the home of Juan Gomez Martinez, an owner of the daily El Colombiano. Gomez is a former mayor of Medellin and a former state governor. A few days before the bombing, an anonymous telephone caller told the newspaper to "keep quiet" and that its journalists had "big mouths." Officials speculated that the bomb was planted by drug terrorists, but spokesmen for El Colombiano said in an interview that the perpetrators had not yet been identified.
December 22
Voz, ATTACKED
A bomb loaded with 20 kilos of dynamite exploded in Bogota outside the offices of the weekly Voz, the official publication of the Colombian Communist Party, causing extensive damage. Authorities do not know who planted the bomb. The newspaper's director, Manuel Cepeda Vargas, was murdered in 1994. Police attributed his assassination to a paramilitary group calling itself Colombia Without Guerrillas.
December 28
EL Tiempo, ATTACKED
A bomb containing five kilos of dynamite exploded outside the offices in Medellin of the Bogota-based daily newspaper El Tiempo. Police officials speculated that the bomb was planted by members of the guerrilla group Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, better-known by its initials, FARC. Police said they had found leaflets with FARC's name on them near the site of the attack. The leaflets derided the news media for its coverage of the conflicts in the banana-cultivating region of Uraba, where guerrillas and paramilitary groups operate. The guerrillas oppose the government and also plantation owners, some of which are foreign companies. The explosion injured a security guard and damaged the newspaper's offices and surrounding buildings.
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