Miami (August 13, 2024) – On the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Colombian journalist Jaime Garzón Forero, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) pays tribute as part of its "Voices Claiming Justice" campaign, which seeks to rescue the memory of reporters killed for their work and the determination in the call for justice.
In the early hours of August 13, 1999, in Bogotá, two individuals on a motorcycle fired five shots at Garzón, according to IAPA records. The journalist, political satirist, and humanitarian mediator was en route to Radionet station where he worked. Garzón, 38 years old, had reported that he was a victim of death threats. His assassination caused great shock in Colombia and led to numerous demonstrations of dismay and outrage.
As a journalist, Garzón imposed political humor with a unique style. He presented the local news irreverently, sarcastically, and through popular characters during a time when clashes between paramilitaries and guerrilla groups intensified. He criticized society, the government, and violence.
In 2004, Carlos Castaño, commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), was sentenced in absentia to 38 years in prison as the mastermind of the murder, according to a ruling by Colombian justice documented by the IAPA. However, Castaño was never arrested, nor did he serve his sentence. He was killed a month after his conviction became known.
Carlos Jornet, president of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said that although "the investigation into Garzón's murder revealed collusion between paramilitaries, state agents, and political figures in Colombia, some of the alleged perpetrators have yet to be linked to the judicial investigation 25 years after the crime was committed."
José Miguel Narváez, former deputy director of the now-defunct Administrative Department of Security (DAS), who was sentenced in 2018 as the mastermind of the crime to 30 years in prison, has since been serving his sentence at a military base, not in a prison, as reported by Alfredo Garzón, the deceased journalist's brother. Other DAS members, drug traffickers, and hitmen who were aware of the crime were also murdered.
Last March, former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso described Garzón's murder as a crime of state and stated that "the order would have come from higher up" in an interview with state media RTVC, part of which was reproduced by Infobae.
Jornet, editorial director of the Argentine newspaper La Voz del Interior, emphasized that "to ensure justice in this crime, it is necessary to deepen the investigation into the criminal network and identify all those responsible, as demanded by the family and press freedom groups."
After exhausting domestic judicial remedies, the case was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2011. The family reported the involvement of public officials in the homicide and the justice system's inability to pursue and sanction all those responsible within a reasonable timeframe.
On July 5, 2022, the IACHR issued an admissibility report. The decision would allow a new evaluation of the circumstances surrounding Garzón's murder, with the hope of lifting the veil of impunity that surrounds it.
Garzón's murder has not been subject to any statute of limitations because it was declared a crime against humanity in 2016 due to the involvement of state agents alongside paramilitary groups.
The family and their legal representatives claim that "the investigation was diverted by DAS officials and undermined by members of the police; demonstrating that the Attorney General's Office had not seriously and thoroughly investigated all hypotheses, particularly those pointing to the criminal responsibility of members of the Army despite numerous indications and evidence."
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
