Two Colombian journalists were shot dead on Sunday August 29 in the north of the country by people traveling on motorbikes, as they returned from reporting on a popular festival. Leiner Montero Ortega, 37, and Dilia Contreras Cantillo, 39, were driving on a road between the towns of El Copey and Fundacion when they were approached “by two criminals on a motorcycle” who have “shot with a gun”said Colonel Andres Serna, police commander of the Magdalena department.
The two journalists worked for a website, Sol Digital, located at Fundacion. The attack also injured one “receiving medical care”, said Mr. Serna, who did not specify whether the injured person is also a journalist. A video posted around 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the Sol Digital Facebook page shows several people attending a popular celebration in the village of Santa Rosa de Lima, about 16 km from Fundacion.
At the origin of these two murders, there would have been an altercation during the festivities, according to the first elements of the investigation. But the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), a Colombian NGO, asked the authorities to “take into account in the investigation the journalistic work of Leiner and Dilia”. The latter also ran a website called ” The Horn “.
A dangerous country to practice the profession of journalist
According to this NGO, violence against journalists in the country increased in 2021, with 768 attacks, including one murder. “We condemn the killing of journalists”said Juan Pappier, of the NGO Human Rights Watch, on Twitter.
Senate Speaker Roy Barreras of the ruling left-wing Pacto Historico coalition denounced an attack on “the life of democracy” and demanded that the crime be solved.
Senator Alirio Barrera, of the opposition Democratic Center (right), also expressed his condolences, recalling that the two journalists had covered his campaign for the legislative elections in March.
Since the signing of the peace agreement with the former FARC guerrillas 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.