Two Colombian journalists were shot dead on Sunday in the north of the country by people traveling on motorcycles as they returned from reporting on a popular festival in the Colombian Caribbean. Leiner Montero Ortega, 37, and Dilia Contreras Cantillo, 39, were driving along a road between the towns of El Copey and Fundación when they were approached “by two criminals on motorcycles” who “shot with a firearm,” said Colonel Andres Serna. police commander of the department of Magdalena.
The two journalists worked for a website, Sol Digital, located in Fundación. The attack also left an injured person “who is receiving medical treatment,” said Andrés Serna, who did not specify whether the injured person is also a journalist.
A video published around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday on Sol Digital’s Facebook page shows several people attending a popular celebration in the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, about 16 km from Fundación.
A dangerous country for journalists
According to the first elements of the investigation, the murder of the journalists would be linked to an “act of intolerance” during the festivities, an expression used by the Colombian authorities to designate fights and physical altercations.
But the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), a Colombian NGO, asked the authorities “to take into account the journalistic work of Leiner and Dilia in the investigation.” The latter also had a website called “La Bocina”.
According to this NGO, violence against journalists in the country increased in 2021, with 768 attacks, including one murder. “We condemn the murder of journalists,” said Juan Pappier of the NGO Human Rights Watch on Twitter.
Since the signing of the peace agreement with the former FARC guerrilla in 2016, ten reporters have been killed, making Colombia the third most dangerous country in Latin America to practice journalism, behind Venezuela and Mexico, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Source: BFM TV
