Colombia overview

Death threats and criminal defamation lawsuits

In 2008, the Writers in Prison Committee recorded 14 attacks against writers in Colombia, most of them print journalists (see table below for breakdown).

Death threats are the most common type of attack suffered by Colombian journalists, with five recorded in 2008.

Three writers were also on trial for criminal defamation in 2008, two of them for reports linking powerful individuals with drugs trafficking. Respected sociologist Alfredo Molano is being sued by one of the country's most powerful families, while Alejandro Santos Rubino, director of the national weekly newsmagazine Semana, who has had a case brought against him by a judge.

Disclosing public officials' and business people's alleged links to drug trafficking all too frequently leads to attacks on the press, as does reporting on other controversial or sensitive topics, such as corruption, the armed conflict and the government's alleged links to illegal armed groups.

The perpetrators of such attacks often remain unknown. But as many as 30 per cent can be traced to paramilitary groups, which have often worked in collusion with the State, despite the fact that they are supposed to have been demobilized since 2003. Other attacks are linked to guerrilla groups, government officials and security forces. For example, journalist Mario Alfonso Puello was kidnapped by the ELN (National Liberation Army) guerrilla group and held hostage for four months.

  COLOMBIA 2008

In 2004, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression recommended that Colombia prioritise the fight against impunity and that human rights violators should be brought to justice, regardless of their political affiliation.

In 2008, the Colombian State made a number of undertakings to the UN in respect of journalists, including:

• To improve guarantees of the exercise of journalists' rights
• To encourage investigations of crimes against journalists
• To foster a culture in which it is easier for reporters to carry out their work

For information on past Colombian cases, click here.

Top of page