Talking About Colombia

Today is World Press Freedom Day.

Last Wednesday May 1, around 7 PM, gunmen put five bullets in the car of a a top investigations editor of one of Colombia’s leading weekly newsmagazines. Ricardo Calderon, 42, of Semana magazine stopped by the roadside to urinate in the road between Ibague and Bogota.

Suddenly, Ricardo was called by name and a man in a silver sedan with tinted windows is pointing a gun at him. He escaped by running and diving into a dark roadside ditch.

Ricardo has uncovered stories including reports about illegal spying by the DAS, the State intelligence agency, on judges, journalists and opposition politicians during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe. His reporting led to the incarceration of more than 20 DAS agents. Ricardo also broke stories on links between paramilitaries and politicians.

More recently, Ricardo was one of Semana’s journalists who reported on the lavish resort-like conditions for military officers serving time in the military jail in Toleimada for grave human rights abuses.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 44 journalists in Colombia have been killed for their work since 1992. Colombia has historically been one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

Related:

World Press Freedom Day: a guide to press freedom around the world from Reporters Without Borders.

Female journalist was kidnapped, tortured and raped–and no one charged.

Female Journalist uncovering truth about her kidnapping, torture and rape.