President Gustavo Petro said a Colombian journalist was found dead on Friday night in the country’s northwestern region, an area plagued by guerrillas, drug traffickers and illegal gold miners.
The body of 25-year-old Mateo Pérez was found in an area where members of the guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and drug traffickers linked to the Gulf Clan operate.
Perez had been missing since Tuesday while he was working in a rural area in the mountainous Antioquia department, about five hours north of the regional capital Medellin.
President Petro blamed guerrilla leader John Edison Chala Torrejano for Pérez’s assassination in a post on Twitter, and accused him of wanting control over illegal gold mining in the area.
“The Humanitarian Commission of the Red Cross and the Ombudsman’s Office, in cooperation with the government, managed to enter the area and locate the body,” Petro said in the post.
“The National Police have been under orders for several weeks to strengthen their presence in the area and rely on the support of the army to eliminate the groups present there. The actions of the public forces will be effective,” he said.
Press groups urge government to protect journalists
Perez ran to an online news outlet, El Confident D YarumalWhere his reporting mainly focused on crime, security, politics and corruption.
The Colombia-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) said Pérez “faced legal pressures” over his “investigation of illicit economies linked to armed actors”.
In a statement, FLIP urged the government to “stop being indifferent to attacks against the press” and adopt “real protection measures” for journalists at risk. “The murder of Mateo Pérez cannot be condoned,” the organization said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), citing FLIP, said that Pérez was detained on a street by FARC members on 5 May.
“Colombian authorities should immediately investigate the death of Mateo Pérez Rueda and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator in São Paulo.
“The state has a responsibility to guarantee safe conditions across the country, enabling journalists to do their work without fear of reprisals,” he said.
Threats to journalists in Colombia
Since 2022, FLIP has recorded 387 attacks against the press by armed groups, with threats and forced displacement cited as the most common tactics.
FLIP said that 170 journalists, including Pérez, have been killed in Colombia since 1977 from causes related to their work. 22 of those murders occurred in Antioquia, making it one of the deadliest departments in the country for journalists.
Colombia has seen an increase in guerrilla attacks as the country prepares for presidential elections on May 31.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar