Miami (July 2, 2025) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemns the misuse of the judicial system by public officials in Colombia as a mechanism of censorship against journalists of the digital media outlet Amigos de Paipa, who have been subjected to stigmatization, harassment, and judicial pressures for their critical coverage on public interest issues in the municipality of Paipa, Boyacá department.
Journalists Rafael Prieto Zartha and Carlos Alberto Vélez, founders of the Amigos de Paipa Facebook page—a digital media outlet reporting for years on historical heritage, public management, and local urbanism—reported to IAPA a systematic campaign of harassment promoted by officials from the Paipa city hall, led by Mayor Germán Ricardo Camacho.
The outlet has documented and questioned the demolition of colonial houses over 250 years old in the historic center of the municipality, an action that, according to the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, constitutes a “crime” against cultural heritage. The demolitions were authorized despite judicial warnings and recommendations from departmental authorities urging respect for legal safeguards of architectural heritage.
In retaliation, the journalists were the target of a legal action presented by the mayor himself. Pressures against the reporters, who reside in the United States, included court hearings, fines, and arrest warrants. During the process, the journalists were publicly stigmatized and accused of causing “distress and terror” in the community, which represents an attempt to criminalize their journalistic work.
The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) warned of a disproportionate use of institutional resources to pressure journalists, including veiled threats and a hostile environment affecting their security and their right to work as journalists.
The case reached the Constitutional Court of Colombia, which on May 6 annulled judicial decisions against Amigos de Paipa, considering that fundamental rights were violated and that there was an abuse of the law. The ruling recognized that judicial actions constituted an illegitimate interference with journalism and freedom of expression.
'We denounce with concern that local authorities use the judicial system to intimidate and silence journalists who carry out their legitimate work of reporting on public interest issues,' stated José Roberto Dutriz, president of IAPA and CEO of La Prensa Gráfica from El Salvador.
Martha Ramos, president of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and general editorial director of Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), rejected “the use of justice as a mechanism of censorship” and warned that “the practice of judicial harassment contradicts international standards of freedom of expression.”
The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights states that “direct or indirect pressures exerted upon journalists or other social communicators to stifle the dissemination of information are incompatible with freedom of expression.” Furthermore, the IAPA Declaration of Chapultepec maintains in its tenth principle that “no news media nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government.”
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.