Miami (July 1, 2011)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed outrage at the murder in Colombia of journalist Luis Eduardo Gómez and called for a prompt investigation to determine who was responsible.
Gómez, 70, was killed yesterday (June 30). Unidentified persons riding a motorcycle intercepted him and shot him as he was arriving at his home in the town of Arboletes, in the Urabá coastal region, Antioquia province. He was a freelance reporter. He worked for several municipal magazines and was known for his incisive character.
According to the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in Colombia Gómez was looking into the murder of witnesses in the context of an alleged pact between local politicians and paramilitaries which was under investigation by the judiciary.
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, Texas, offered his condolences to the journalist’s family and issued an urgent call on the Colombian authorities “to immediately investigate to determine who was responsible and prevent this murder, like so many others, going unpunished.”
The motives for the murder were not immediately known. The authorities said Gómez had not reported receiving any threat.
The crime occurred three days after the death of José Vicente Botero, a municipal supplier who had been threatened by local paramilitary groups. Botero had not agreed to bodyguards offered by the District Attorney’s Office. Due to political unrest in that region of the country Urabá authorities are providing protection to eight political leaders and two officials of the mayor’s office, including the Arboletes mayor himself.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. The IAPA Impunity Project is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and has the mission of combating violence against journalists and lessening the impunity surrounding the majority of such crimes. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org; http://www.impunidad.com
