Two gunmen broke into the office of the largest-circulation newspaper on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to demand a “message” from a mafia boss be published, the NGO said Tuesday.
“Members of the armed group” appeared on Monday at El Heraldo’s headquarters in Barranquilla (North), where they “said that they needed to convey a message from Dinho Palomino, their leader, who supposedly wants to participate in the peace talks”, through which the government seeks disarm and eliminate rebel organizations, far-right paramilitary groups and drug cartels, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP) explained in a press release.
Mr. Palomino, who is accused by Colombian justice of being part of a gang of drug dealers and extortionists known as Los Costenios, was arrested in Venezuela in 2019 and extradited to Colombia last September. Since then, he has been under house arrest in Barranquilla.
Six armed men were present, “two of whom entered and demanded to speak to the director of the newspaper, Erica Fondalvo. Three journalists came out to talk” with gang emissaries who “demanded to publish an interview (Mr. Palomino) taken by the armed group itself,” according to FLIP.
El Heraldo, which did not publish Mr. Palomino’s report, received a phone call last week from an unknown person demanding that its reporters interview “El Castor,” the leader of the Los Costenios gang, according to the NGO.
The newspaper did not mention these events.
As part of his “absolute peace” policy, leftist President Gustavo Petros has offered some perks for drug dealers who agree to give up their criminal activities and surrender to justice, notably eight years or more in prison and the possibility of imprisonment. % of your assets.
The initiative still has to be approved by parliament, where the government has a majority, but there are objections even in its own camp.
According to the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), Colombia is the third most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America after Mexico and Brazil. FLIP recorded in 2022 a total of 200 threats against media workers and two killings of journalists because of their work.
Source: APE-MPE, FLIP
Source: Kathimerini
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