Due to persistent telephone threats, our colleague Germán Hernández, Managing Editor of Diario del Huila and President of the Association of Journalists of Huila (ASPEHU), was forced to abandon his work and home to find shelter in another region of the country.

The journalist received several phone calls where his death was announced. One of the calls came from a mobile phone that was rented for minutes, in a store located in front of Diario Huila’s facilities, after publishing several articles on corruption scandals of the Hospital of Neiva.

Hernández is also a promoter, cofounder and President of a regional organization of journalists with at least 80 members. The organization was founded on March 25 with support from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

“To the corrupt who threaten our colleague, we assure you that he is not alone. More than 500,000 journalists affiliated to the IFJ, in 116 countries, support him”, said Eduardo Márquez, Director of IFJ Center of Solidarity in Colombia. “One more aggression and we will make you pay a high price with the lenses and microphones of the world on you. We know who you are, we know of your networks, political supports and contractual scams”, concluded Márquez.

Center of Solidarity

Colombia