Colombia's truth held captive
By Diana Calderón Fernández Posted Jul 1 2003
At 5 p.m. on Jan. 26, reporter Ramón Eduardo Martínez, cameraperson Duarley Guerrero and three technicians of the television division of Radio Cadena Nacional were kidnapped in Arauca in eastern Colombia. They were traveling to report on a car bomb explosion and on the possible liberation of two foreign journalists on assignment for the Los Angeles Times who had been kidnapped by the National Liberation Army two days before.
They thought they were being stopped by one of the military’s routine inspection roadblocks. Eduardo, Guerrero and the three technicians were ambushed by armed men of FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Members of the guerrilla group forced the journalists from the car and told them to walk down to the “wild zone,” an area of military and armed-group contention near the Venezuelan border.
At approximately the same time, the RCN headquarters in Bogotá lost communication with the group. The group turned up at the headquarters two days later. Here, their story unfolded. During their 36 hours in captivity, they were accused of being accessories to “the capitalist system and the rightist communication media,” a common charge left-wing guerrilla organizations make against journalists. They were later freed but only after their communication devices, vehicle and camera were taken. As in many other cases, the journalists were released on the condition they cease working for RCN news channel and commit themselves to providing “reasonable” information about the armed conflict between FARC and government forces.
A total of 82 journalists were kidnapped in Colombia between 1995 and 2002 by FARC and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrilla groups and a paramilitary organization calling itself United Self Defense Group of Colombia. The journalists stories are similar. Most journalists kidnapped in Colombia are taken while in the process of covering a war event in one of the numerous zones where the government can guarantee neither mobility nor civilian protection.
These far-off and inaccessible zones, particularly in southeast Colombia, are under the control of armed groups such as FARC and ELN guerrillas and the paramilitary.
The armed groups force the journalists to explain and justify their reporting as a condition of release. They criticize the mass media for what they believe to be militaristic unanimity and conspiracy with the military. They warn journalists that their reports do not faithfully describe the revolutionary struggle and that they do not accept being treated as terrorists, even though they frequently kill civilians.
The only things that change in all of these incidents are the names, regions and kidnappers. Their principles and methods remain the same. The kidnappers — it is difficult not to call them terrorists — want to seize control of information and turn journalists into instruments for their own interests. These are the same drug dealers who kidnapped journalist Diana Turbay in 1990. She died in a rescue attempt. Authorities confirm that they are the same ones responsible for killing Guillermo Cano, director of El Espectador and TV journalist Jorge Enrique Pulido, among many others.
In recent years, the kidnappers of journalists have largely been ELN and FARC guerrillas, corrupt politicians, the paramilitary and also some police and military officers. These kidnappers use intimidation tactics similar to those used by drug terrorists during their glory days. And why? The answer is clear: kidnapping is a means to censor important information, sow fear and keep people from acting. These kidnappers extort the consciousness of journalists to make them report on whatever is most convenient for the guerrilla and the paramilitary, turning journalists into terror propagators.
During the most recent peace negotiations, which took place from 1998 to 2002 between Andres Pastrana’s government and the guerrilla group FARC, many journalists reported that they were held hostage by the paramilitary. Paramilitary forces are the guerrilla’s natural enemies and were operating in areas close to where the negotiations with the guerrillas were taking place. The paramilitary coerced journalists into reporting cruelties perpetrated by the guerrillas, hoping to convince the public that they were deceiving both the government and the country, so that the peace process would fail.
Some candidates in the most recent presidential election advocated abandoning these negotiations in favor of a direct confrontation with the paramilitary and guerillas. Consequently, FARC, ELN and the paramilitary forces kidnapped journalists and tried to stop them from reporting on this proposal.
Whatever the reason for kidnapping, the ultimate victim is information. Over the past few years, journalist-as-hostage situations in Colombia have compelled media outlets in places such as Cesar, Caquetá and Arauca to practice self-censorship, by keeping their journalists from covering conflict situations. The results are radio stations that broadcast music instead of news and newspapers that cover only cultural and publicity events. Many journalists believe kidnapping to be the lesser of two evils.
According to reports provided by the Interamerican Press Association, over the past seven years, journalists were kidnapped in the Colombian states of Cauca, Casanare, Antioquia, Bolívar, Magdalena Medio Caquetá, Cundinamarca and Arauca, confirming the premise that the kidnappings take place in the zones where conflict has arisen.
Justice demands that kidnappers cease acting with impunity. Justice demands that those who were kidnapped not be forgotten. Otherwise, the terrorists have a license to keep on kidnapping.