Colombia

2010

  

Fernando Garavito, man of letters, dies in exile

It’s hard to trace things to their origin. But had I not met exiled Colombian journalist Fernando Garavito in early 2004, I don’t know that I would have chosen to work, professionally, as a defender of freedom of expression.

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Colombian authorities seize a Los Paisas weapons cache in August 2009. (Reuter/Fredy Amariles)

In Colombia, gang threats force reporter to flee

My chance encounter last year with Los Paisas, a criminal gang that operates in northern Colombia, began a nightmare that continues today. I was heading to an assignment in a tourist area south of Montería on July 9, 2009, when Los Paisas gang members blocked my car. The gang was meeting with local landowners nearby–and…

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Courtesy Hollman Morris

Hollman Morris, labeled ‘terrorist,’ finally Harvard-bound

For a month, U.S. officials in Bogotá told Colombian journalist Hollman Morris that his request for a U.S. visa to study at Harvard as a prestigious Nieman Fellow had been denied on grounds relating to terrorist activities as defined by the U.S. Patriot Act, and that the decision was permanent and that there were no…

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CPJ testimony: Press freedom in the Americas

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, saying that while democracies are prevalent in Latin America, the press continues to operate with few institutional protections. This statement was submitted into the record on Monday.

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The government barred some news coverage of the first round of voting, won by Juan Manuel Santos. (AP/Fernando Vergara)

Decree limited Colombian presidential vote coverage

Among the regulations for Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday, the government barred the press from publishing Election Day news about alleged voter harassment or other irregularities unless it was confirmed by an official source. Local press groups said the rule limited important information on the very sort of illegal actions that have beset Colombian elections…

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CPJ

Jon Lee Anderson on courage and journalism

Last week, I attended an unusual event called the Courage Forum at which half a dozen speakers, from tightrope artist Philippe Petit and Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal to Virgin founder and chairman Richard Branson, talked about about overcoming fear.

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CPJ
María Teresa Ronderos and Sergei Sokolov at CPJ's Impunity Summit at Columbia. (CPJ)

Impunity Summit: Solidarity in fighting journalist murders

Every day at CPJ, we count numbers: 18 journalists killed in Russia since 2000, 32 journalists and media workers slaughtered in the Maguindanao massacre, 88 journalists murdered over the last 10 years in Iraq. But on Tuesday night at CPJ’s Impunity Summit at Columbia University, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon clarified why we were gathered:…

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Fighting impunity with solidarity, unity, and a symbol

We will not make significant advances in the battle against crimes against journalists and the impunity surrounding them without the creation of a sense of unity and solidarity among a country’s news media and journalists. Nor will the cause advance without a strategy by international press freedom organizations to provide support for those two values.

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(Elpais.com.co)

Latin America takes steps against criminal defamation

In an encouraging development, three courts in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Chile have recently followed the growing regional consensus against criminal defamation by dismissing criminal penalties against journalists accused of libel and slander.The newsweekly magazine Semana reported that a piece written by Alfredo Molano, at left, in the op-ed pages of the Bogota-based daily El Espectador in February 2007 described how…

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CPJ
Joel Simon at CPJ's Japan launch of Attacks on the Press. (Reuters)

CPJ launches yearly findings globally, and is heard

On February 16, CPJ held an ambitious international launch of our annual report Attacks on the Press. We coordinated events in six cities on four continents in order to expand the reach of our international headlines while also focusing on specific issues in each region. So how did we do?

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2010