MIAMI, Florida (November 21, 2006)The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announced today that it is keeping a close watch on developments in the arrest in Bogotá of a Telesur correspondent on terrorism charges and called on the Colombian government to shed light on the matter and ensure due process of law.
Freddy Muñoz, the Telesur correspondent in Colombia, was arrested on Sunday (November 19) at Bogotas El Dorado international airport by agents from the Administrative Security Department (DAS) and charged with engaging in acts of terrorism and rebellion in Barranquilla and Cartagena, where terrorist activity is under investigation.
Colombian-born Muñoz was returning to Colombia after taking part in a professional training course in Caracas in neighboring Venezuela, where Telesur is headquartered.
Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPAs Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, declared, We trust that this case will be investigated in depth and that the authorities will shed light on the matter, as there is an air of uncertainty that is keeping the press community in suspense and which could lead to an attack upon press freedom.
Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, added that there must be every assurance that due process will be followed in the case.
Marroquín also mentioned threats issued against journalist Olga Bru Polo from the newspaper El Meridiano de Sucre in Sincelejo, Sucre province, who told the IAPA that she had received the threats after writing about corruption in the local government. She was warned to stop reporting or she would suffer the consequences.
In recent weeks the newspapers street vendors have been warned by unidentified persons not to continue distributing the paper, which contained reports of the arrest of a number of politicians in Sucre province for alleged criminal activity, names which it is alleged were found listed on a paramilitary leaders computer.
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