2023-05-12 13:50:00
Bogota, Colombia | A journalist and director of a digital media outlet that was investigating cases of femicide was shot dead in a region of the Colombian Caribbean (north), the government denounced this Thursday.
“We reject and deeply regret the murder of journalist Luis Gabriel Pereira in Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, who had recently denounced the murders committed against women in this municipality,” said Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco, @velascoluisf on Twitter.
On the afternoon of May 9, two men on a motorcycle intercepted the 25-year-old communicator in the middle of a road and one of them shot him at point-blank range, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) stated in a bulletin.
Pereira was a journalist and director of the digital outlet Notiorense, which had recently revealed the name of an alleged murderer of women in Ciénaga de Oro. He also investigated news related to public order, security and judicial matters, according to FLIP.
Minister Velasco urged “the judicial authorities to investigate these events and find the whereabouts of those responsible.”
“We call to work against the stigmatization of people who carry out this fundamental work for democracy,” he added.
The special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Pedro Vaca @PVacaV, condemned the murder on Twitter and made a “call to include his journalistic work within the investigation hypotheses.”
Illegal armed groups associated with drug trafficking operate in the area where Pereira worked, in the country that produces the most cocaine in the world.
If it is confirmed that the murder is related to his informative work, the young man would be the third journalist murdered in the last seven months in Colombia, according to data from FLIP.
According to the organization, two other recent cases of journalists murdered in the same region remain unpunished.
FLIP also called on President Gustavo Petro to publicly reject the homicide and take action to prevent violence against journalists, who in 2022 totaled 218 threats.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Colombia is the third most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America, behind Mexico and Brazil.
Drug traffickers, guerrillas and state agents face each other in a conflict that has bled the country dry for half a century and has left more than 9 million victims.
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