11 June 2009
IFJ Condemns Alarming Levels of Violence against Journalists in Latin America after Murders in Guatemala and Colombia
The IFJ has strongly condemned the murder of Marco Antonio Estrada Orla, 39, a journalist of Canal 3 in the city of Chiquimula, Guatemala who was killed last Saturday near his home by a gunman who shot him several times at point range before escaping on a motorbike.
The Federation of Journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean (FEPALC) condemned this murder which followed two previous killings of Guatemalan colleagues, Jorge Mérida Pérez, correspondent of daily Prensa Libre of Quetzaltenango on 10 May and Rolando Santis, of Telecentro 13 based in City of Guatemala on 1 April .
The IFJ learned that another Colombian journalist, Hernando Salas Rojas, director of Emisora Costa de Oro, a local television station of Curillo in department of Caquetá had been attacked by a gunman who shot him home on 20 May. Hernando was critically injured and died on Saturday. His murder went unreported in Colombia until his brother, himself a journalist was forced to flee for his life after receiving death threats.
“The murder of Hernando Salas Rojas has deprived people of a credible source of information in Curillo,” said Eduardo Márquez, President of FECOLPER and Vice President of FEPALC. “Our Colombian colleagues are asking for an investigation into the statements of Curillo’s mayor which could potentially be interpretated as a threat leading to this murder.”
“We are dismayed,” said Celso Schroder, president of FEPALC, “and we would like to remind the civil societies of Guatemala and Colombia that the Organization of American States, to which both countries belong, has reaffirmed the duty of members states to prevent and investigate this kind of killings against journalists, so that the authors are punished and to repair adequately the victims.”
The IFJ and FEPALC will not stop fighting impunity for murderers of journalists until plotters and those who commit these killings face justice. The two organizations regret that Central America is becoming this year one of most dangerous zones to exercise journalism in the whole world.
For further information contact IFJ heaquarters on + 32 2 235 22 06
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide
Comments :
pablo hernandez
13 April 2010 at 05:36
Ayer, 11 de abril de 2010, gracias a la excelente justicia que tiene el Caqueta, vino a Curillo a reclamar la alcaldia el ex alcalde Esneider Mayorga, esesino de Hernando Salas, periodista en Curillo caqueta. Es que no hay suficientes pruebas, que no hubo testigos, no fueron los mismos casquillos los que se encontraron tanto en el cuerpo sin vida de Hernando Salas y de los disparos que este sujeto le hizo a la policia y a la fiscalia. De que clase de justicia gozamos, que clase de jueces tenemos y que clase de politicos tenemos que se dedican a ayudar a este asesino. Que, los señores jueces, fiscales y politicos, no son padres, no son hijos, no son esposos, no tienen amigos, que no les duele la violencia y el asesinato. Acaso estos señores no tienen conciencia, no les ofende dejar libre a un asesino, que creen que aparte de su erronea justicia y juicios, no hay una justicia divina que los juzgara a ustedes. Que no les da pesar, que la sangre de un inocente manche sus manos. Solo le pido a Dios, que ya que ustedes no hacen justicia, el tome esta en sus manos y que los castigue a ustedes por igual, ya que son peor que Esneider Mayorga.
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