Threats and intimidation against various media outlets in Barranquilla by criminal organizations that operate in this city in northern Colombia, were denounced this Tuesday by the Foundation for Press Freedom (Flip).
The agency reported in a statement that on Monday “six armed men arrived at the facilities of the newspaper El Heraldo, in Barranquilla, two of them entered and demanded to speak with the director of the outlet, Erika Fontalvo.”
La Flip, an organization that defends freedom of expression and promotes an optimal climate for those who practice journalism to satisfy the right of those who live in Colombia to be informed, called on the Colombian authorities to immediately activate security measures. protection that safeguards the integrity of journalists.
“Three journalists had to go out to talk with the members of the armed group, who told them that they had a message from Digno Palomino, their leader, who supposedly wants to join the negotiations for total peace and requested that an interview be published that criminal gang carried out, ”explains the Flip statement in one of its asides.
Palomino, one of the heads of the criminal structure “Los Costeños”, which operates from Barranquilla in the northern region of Colombia and to whom the authorities attribute a confrontation with the faction led by Jorge Eliécer Díaz Collazos, alias “Castor”.
According to the Police, the confrontation between the two criminal organizations has resulted in several massacres in recent months, the last one on March 19, when five people were murdered who were partying at a street party in a sector dominated by Palomino.
The Flip statement also refers to the fact that “last week, a member of the criminal group ‘Los Costeños’ called the newsroom of El Heraldo and demanded that their leader, alias ‘El Castor’, be interviewed.”