Indigenous journalist stabbed to death in western Colombia

Indigenous journalist stabbed to death in western Colombia
Tuesday, 13 April 2010 12:13 Alex Hocking

Indigenous journalist Mauricio Moreno Medina, the founding member of a community radio station for the Pijao indigenous people, was murdered Sunday by unknown assailants in his home, in the town of Ortega in Colombia's western Tolima department, reports Reuters.

Medina, 50, died of multiple knife wounds.

Police investigating the murder said they did not suspect a link with any illegal armed groups. They confirmed that Moreno had not received any death threats.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) suggest that the murder was more than a "crime of passion" as police concluded.

"The label “crime of passion” is too often used to avoid investigation of any link with the victim’s work, even to the extent of covering up a case. This has already happened in several other murders of journalists in Colombia," RWB said.

"As a director of a community radio, the kind of media often targeted by the authorities, particularly in conflict areas, Medina ran risks as a result of his work," said RWB.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/9127-journalist-slain-in-western-colombia.html

June 29, 2009

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND PRESIDENT URIBE OF COLOMBIA
IN JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY

Oval Office

3:43 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I am very pleased to have President Uribe here today with his delegation from Colombia. The relationship between the United States and Colombia has been extremely strong. We've had great cooperation on a whole range of issues, and President Uribe's administration I think has, under very difficult circumstances, performed admirably on a whole range of fronts -- on security, on reducing the influence of the drug cartels, in improving the economic situation for his people, and stabilizing the country. He has performed with diligence and courage. And so we are grateful for his friendship and I'm glad that he was able to come and visit us here today.

In our discussions, we talked about a range of issues. We discussed, most prominently, the interests of both countries in moving forward on a free trade agreement. This is something that has been discussed for quite some time. I have instructed Ambassador Kirk, our United States Trade Representative, to begin working closely with President Uribe's team on how we can proceed on a free trade agreement. There are obvious difficulties involved in the process and there remains work to do, but I'm confident that ultimately we can strike a deal that is good for the people of Colombia and good for the people of the United States.

I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there, and obviously we've seen a downward trajectory in the deaths of labor unions and we've seen improvements when it comes to prosecution of those who are carrying out these blatant human rights offenses. President Uribe acknowledges that there remains more work to be done, and we look forward to cooperating with him to continue to improve both the rights of organized labor in Colombia and to protect both labor and civil rights leaders there.

Along those same lines, we obviously think that the steps that have already been made on issues like extrajudicial killings and illegal surveillance, that it is important that Colombia pursue a path of rule of law and transparency, and I know that that is something that President Uribe is committed to doing.

more: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-President-Obama-and-President-Uribe-of-Colombia-in-Joint-Press-Availability/

Governments like Colombia's are like vast cancers on this planet.

In time, the whole world will be able to grasp the simple truth the oligarchs have tried so long, and so determinedly to bury.

There literallly is NO hope as long as criminals rule the country and that's what you get when right-wing tyrants take over a government. They KILL everyone who doesn't support them as soon as they get the means and the power to do it.

Thanks for that reminder from last year.