|
|
|
|
Harassed
August 15
Hector Mujica, El Espectador, HARASSED
Mujica, a correspondent for the daily El Espectador in Puerto Asis, in the department of Putumayo, was ordered by an armed man to give a verbal explanation of articles he had written about an ambulance set on fire during protests by producers of coca. The coca producers were demonstrating against a government campaign to prohibit cultivation of the crop.
August 22
Amparo Jimenez, QAP Noticias, THREATENED, HARASSED
Jose Coronado, QAP Noticias, THREATENED, HARASSED
Jimenez, a reporter, and Coronado, a cameraman, both with television station QAP Noticias, were detained by police after covering the occupation of the Hacienda Bellacruz by farm workers. They were stopped by the police in the nearby city of Pelaya and ordered to turn over their footage of the occupation. They refused and were allowed to leave, but were stopped again by members of an armed paramilitary group, who stole some of their equipment. The paramilitary group later issued death threats against the journalists. CPJ wrote to President Ernesto Samper and urged him to publicly condemn the threats against Jimenez and Coronado.
August 29
Yesid Cristancho, Cadena A, HARASSED
Cristancho, a cameraman for the television program "CM" on the public channel Cadena A in Bogota, was forced to jump into the Bodoquero River after finding himself surrounded by security forces and protesters during confrontations between soldiers and coca producers in the Caqueta department in southern Colombia. The coca producers were opposing government prohibitions on cultivation of the crop. Cristancho was not able to escape via a metal bridge nearby because it had been electrically charged by the soldiers to prevent anyone from fleeing the area.
For more information contact americasweb@cpj.org