MIAMI, Florida
(July 6)-The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed
outrage at the murder of another journalist in Colombia, reporter
Marisol Revelo Barón, and called on the government there
to immediately investigate and act to safeguard the lives of journalists. Revelo Barón, 25, worked as a reporter for the Nariño
Regional Autonomous Corporation, a rural development agency. She
was previously news director and reporter for Radio Mira in Tumaco,
in Nariño province, in southwestern Colombia, and a reporter
for Teletumaco and Impact Televisión there. She was at her home in Tumaco on July 4 when a stranger knocked
at the door and shot her three times when she went to open it. "Although we are aware that the Colombian government has undertaken
to investigate crimes against journalists that have so far gone
unpunished, it must get involved speedily to prevent the list of
journalists murdered in Colombia from lengthening further,"
said Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPAs Committee on Freedom
of the Press and Information. "Unfortunately, Colombia continues to be the country in the
Western Hemisphere where most journalists have been killed,"
added Molina, of the daily El Nacional of Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic. He said the IAPA was prepared to send its recently-formed Rapid
Response Unit to Colombia to conduct its own investigation into
this latest murder. Figures compiled by the IAPA show that since October last year a
total of six journalists have been murdered in Colombia, four in
Mexico, two in Guatemala and one each in Haiti, Paraguay and Uruguay.
