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was received by Tatiana Sánchez, González’s wife, who also works for
the same weekly. González has reported the threat to the authorities and
has been provided with protection.
*Gonzalo GUILLÉN: author and journalist, currently Colombian correspondent
of the Miami-based daily Spanish language newspaper El
Nuevo Herald. Guillén (born 1952) has been receiving repeated death
threats since mid-2007. This campaign of intimidation apparently stems
from his investigation of links between the Uribe administration, paramilitarism
and drugs trafficking. The most prominent of the threats has
come from President Uribe himself. On 2 October, the President called
two national radio stations to refute allegations of close links to the
deceased drugs baron Pablo Escobar made in a recent memoir by
Virginia Vallejo, formerly a TV presenter and Escobar’s mistress. Uribe
claimed that Guillén had collaborated in writing Vallejo’s Amando a
Pablo, Odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), published in
September, as well as in other books by foreign journalists on the links
between paramilitarism and drug trafficking. On air, the President
accused Guillén of being “a professional slanderer” who had “dedicated
his journalistic career to infamy and lies” and was systematically trying
to damage Uribe’s reputation. Guillén denies having anything to do with
Vallejo’s book. Yet in the three days following these statements he
received 24 death threats, and temporarily left the country for his own
safety. The journalist had already been the target of death threats for
several months, and had been given a security guard and an armoured car
under the Colombian government’s journalist protection programme.
However, according to Guillén, the guard was withdrawn following
Uribe’s on-air comments. The threats and the President’s accusations
would appear to be linked in particular to a book Guillén published in
May 2007 entitled Los confidentes de Pablo Escobar (The confidants of
Pablo Escobar) which contains allegations about the President’s past
which are similar to those made in Vallejo’s book. Guillén returned to
Colombia in the third week of October, and filed slander and defamation
charges against President Uribe. He reportedly received further death
threats by telephone on 3, 14 and 17 December, the last two presumed to
stem from 13 and 15 December articles of his on the motives behind the
resignation of the governmental anti-corruption authority. Guillén has
reported these latest death threats to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Threatened
Daniel CORONELL: columnist for the magazine Semana, based in
Bogota, was publicly Insulted by Colombian president in a radio interview
on 11 October 2007. The president publicly referred to Daniel Coronell as a
coward, liar, swine, and professional slanderer. This was a consequence of
Coronell’s latest column in Semana regarding alleged ties with the
deceased drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. The allegation came from the book
‘Loving Plablo, Hating Escobal’ (‘Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar’),
written by a former lover of Escobar’s, Virginia Vallejo. Background: On
2 January 2006, Coronell and two other journalists from the same magazine,
María Jimena DUZÁN (f) and María Isabel RUEDA (f), were
informed that they faced charges of “injury” and “calumny” brought by
former senator Carlos Náde, who was named in a piece written by
Coronell. In the article Coronell claimed that he received e-mail death
threats sent from Náder’s computer. Duzán and Rueda wrote opinion pieces
in support of their colleague. Coronell went into exile in the United States
having received threats, apparently from other sources. In October 2006, it
was reported that Luis Fernando Uribe Botero had been sentenced to 16
months in prison for threatening Daniel Coronell and his family.
*Samit LINERO: journalist with the newspaper Al Día, has reportedly
been subject to telephone threats and other forms of harassment, seemingly
stemming from a report he published on alleged local corruption on
18 September 2007. Linero and family members reported received
threatening phone calls on 18 and 20 September. On 20 September the
journalist was also reportedly verbally harassed by strangers in a public
place. Linero attributes the harassment to supporters of council members
who were implicated in his report and are campaigning for re-election.
The document in question shows that goods intended for the needy were
instead given to council members from the ruling majority in 2005. The
police has reportedly expressed concern for Linero’s safety, however, to
date it is not known what action has been taken.
Attacked
*María Paulina MARTÍNEZ (f): journalist for the tabloid Ajá y Qué,
was attacked while covering a demonstration in which over 100 motorcycle-taxi
drivers participated on 22 November 2007. The demonstration
went against a decree issued by the local authority of Santa Marta, in
northern Colombia. The journalist, and the photographer from the same
newspaper, were surrounded and hit by protesters, who also took their
camera, and returned it after deleting the pictures of the demonstration.
Marcos PERALES: director of the weekly Barrancabermeja-based
Portada, was beaten and verbally attacked and threatened while covering
a story in a sports-field in Barrancabermeja, Santander, northern
Colombia, on 7 October 2007. His assailant was Amilcar Coronado, who
reportedly works as an advisor for the mayor of Barrancabermeja. The
attack ended when some neighbours and police officers who were in the
area intervened. On 9 October, Perales presented charges to the General
Prosecutor’s Office against his attacker. In the complaint, Perales linked
the attack with Portada’s investigation into alleged corruption cases
against the Municipality of Barrancabermeja. Prior to the attack, Perales
had been subject to threats, including death threats, in relation to his
work. From March to July 2006, he had reportedly received email death
threats, and had been given a bullet-proof vest and a two-way police
radio for his protection. However, the threats were reportedly not being
investigated. At the end of April 2007, copies of Portada were confiscated
and burnt following its publication of a report on alleged corruption
by the Barrancabermeja mayor and his alleged links to paramilitary
groups. On 1 May 2007, Perales was threatened by an armed individual
who warned him to stop reporting on the mayor. Shortly afterwards he
reported that his home in Bucaramanga was being watched.
*Abel ZABALA VARGAS: editor of the newspaper El Ariarense, was
reportedly assaulted by the bodyguard of the mayor of Granada, in Meta,
central Colombia, on 22 October 2007. The attack occurred when the
editor tried to videotape the mayor with the mayoral candidate. The journalist
took refuge in a commercial store, while the bodyguard continued
insulting him from the outside. Moments later the police arrived, but
instead of apprehending the attacker, they tried to take the camera from
Zabala. The editor refused to be taken to the police station and to hand in
his camera.
Harassed
*Pedro Antonio CÁRDENAS: director of La Verdad magazine, based in
Honda, Tolima province, was reportedly subject to telephone death
threats in September and October 2007. On one occasion, on 11
September, Cárdenas received an anonymous call to his mobile phone
telling him to ‘expect a little gift’. The day after, another phone message
was left at his home telling him that he was banned from publishing his