Polanco Herrera, news director of the cable television station CNC, Cable Unión de Occidente, was killed yesterday at around noon when he was leaving the station, located in Cartago, in the Western province of Valle del Cauca. Two hit men who were riding a motorcycle fired two shots at his head.
After regretting the murder of the journalist, the Chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, recalled the commitment made last year by President Alvaro Uribe to an IAPA delegation to investigate crimes against journalists and fight against impunity.
Polanco Herrera had more than 12 years of experience and was the daily anchorman in the news program in which he also had a segment (Noticias de Dirección), where he gave his opinion on various issues on local politics. In Cartago he was known for his work supporting the local communities and as a journalist criticized the work of public officials in that city, among them the city’s Mayor, who is being investigated for alleged ties to drug traffickers.
In Cartago, located around 125 miles from Bogotá and affected by internal armed conflict, recently there has been reported selective killings and massacres in the village communities of La Unión and Roldanillo. There is also known to be a supposed alliance between paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
Relatives and colleagues of the journalist stated that he had not received threats. Meanwhile, Miguel Angel Palta, news director at CVN in Cali, capital of Valle del Cauca, told the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in Colombia that the motives of the murder were unknown.
Molina, director of the Dominican magazine Ahora, expressed that “the murders of Polanco Herrerra, as well as those of José Nel Muñoz, Juan Carlos Benavides, Jaime Regifo Revero, Guillermo Bravo Vega, José Emeterio Rivas y William Soto Cheng, that happened in 2003, show the urgent need to strengthen safety in Colombia for journalists in order to end impunity.”
The Cable Unión de Occidente channel is owned by Senator Javik Merek.
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