Miami (April 16, 2013).—The 15th anniversary of the murder of Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal was noted today by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) with a call on the authorities in the South American country to speed up investigations in order to solve and apply justice in this and other still unpunished crimes.
Carvajal, a reporter with Radio Sur radio station, an affiliate of RCN Radio, and a teacher, was killed on April 16, 1998 in the town of Pitalito in the southeastern Colombian province of Huila. A hitman shot him seven times. He was 37.
“Sadly we note that 15 years have already passed since Carvajal died and the anniversary requires us to face the fact that after such a long time the case has still not been solved. We have a commitment to truth and we cannot let this to be forgotten,” declared Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, chairman of the IAPA’s Impunity Committee.
Carvajal started work as a journalist in 1986, when he became editor of the news program “Momento Regional” (Regional Time) broadcast by Radio Sur. He shortly thereafter became the editor of the programs “Mirador de la Semana” (Window to the Week), “Amanecer en el Campo” (Dawn in the Countryside) and “Tribuna Médica” (Medical Forum). Transparency in government and investigations into political corruption were his preferred topics on the radio. He also founded in Pitalito a school of which he was the principal at the time of his death.
The results of a journalistic investigation in Colombia into the murder carried out by the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit were submitted in June 2002 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a body that is continuing to follow the matter up under case number 12,462.
Ealy Ortiz, president and editorial director of the Mexico City, Mexico, newspaper El Universal, added that for the IAPA “to do justice, know what occurred, why and who masterminded and committed this crime, as well as numerous other cases of unpunished murders in Colombia, is a pending matter.”
According to Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom (FLP), 87% of the 140 murders of members of the press committed since 1977 continue to go unpunished. In only 17 cases have there been a conviction, while other can follow under the statute of limitations.
“We call upon President Juan Manuel Santos and the Colombian judiciary to pursue the investigations into the murders of journalists so as to identify and bring to justice those responsible and prevent such cases becoming subject to statute of limitations,” Ealy Ortiz said.
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. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
