The head of Colombia's FARC marked the 50th anniversary of the guerrilla group's founding Tuesday, expressing hope for an "effective peace" while denouncing the government of President Juan Manuel Santos. In a 30-minute video posted on the Internet, Timoleon Jimenez, alias "Timochenko," warned that the FARC "will do what's necessary if the oligarchy persists in blocking peace." The video celebrating the Marxist rebels' 50 years comes amid intensifying debate in...

For the first time ever, Reporters Without Borders is publishing a list of profiles of “100 information heroes” for World Press Freedom Day (3 May).Through their courageous work or activism, these “100 heroes” help to promote the freedom enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom to “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” They put their ideals in the service of...

Reporters Without Borders condemns attacks by police on four journalists from the daily El Colombiano who were covering May Day demonstrations. Andrea Torres, Sebastian Carvajal, Juan Fernando Rojas and Esteban Vanegas were assaulted by riot officers to whom they had made a point of showing their press cards. Vanegas, a photographer, was accused of assaulting public servants. He was released overnight after being held for 12 hours. “This attack took place just over a month after the...

(Bogotá) - Paramilitary successor groups have abducted and disappeared scores, and possibly hundreds, of residents of the largely Afro-Colombian port of Buenaventura, Human Rights Watch said in a report and released today. Thousands of residents have been fleeing their homes in the city each year, making Buenaventura the municipality with the highest level of ongoing forced displacement in today. The 30-page report, “,” documents how many of the city’s neighborhoods...

The Colombian journalist Deisy Rodriguez Lagos and the Italian documentary maker Bruno Federico (photo) had a narrow escape when a gunman opened fire as they were covering an operation to expel peasants two days ago in Pitalito in the Chimichagua district of the northern department of Cesar. “In South America, landowners and their henchmen frequently behave as predators of freedom of information,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We call on the authorities to get to the...

Reporters Without Borders calls for a thorough investigation into yesterday’s attempted murder of TV journalist Diego Gómez Valverde in the eastern city of Cali, in which Gómez reportedly sustained five gunshot injuries. “We hope that Gómez recovers quickly,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Given that nothing was taken from the victim and the possibility that he was ‘warned’ before this shooting, acording to a few of his colleagues,...

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro congratulated his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, and Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for the agreements reached in the peace talks taking place in Havana, Cuba. During a public event the Venezuelan president said he had talked to Santos to congratulate him for the progress made so far, and stressed that Venezuela fully supports Colombia's peace process, AVN reported.

(Bogotá) - Internally displaced Colombians face killings and widespread death threats for attempting to reclaim their land, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Abuses targeting displaced families for trying to return home almost always go unpunished, as do the original crimes of forcing them off their land and stealing it. The 184-page report, documents killings, death threats, and new incidents of forced displacement committed against displaced Colombians in relation...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the violence and other forms of intimidation and censorship being used against a campaign of peaceful demonstrations, called a Minga, that indigenous groups are currently waging in many parts of Colombia to defend their rights. In one of the latest instances, the home of Daniel Maestre Villazón, a community journalist and Minga coordinator in the northern department of César, was burgled on 21 October and his laptops and computer hard disks...

Colombian authorities blamed the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for an attack with explosives on Wednesday against a Colombia-Venezuela gas pipeline, official sources reported. The attack took place near the Maicao municipality, in La Guajira department (northeast Colombia), a few kilometers away from the Venezuelan border, hitting a gas pipeline transporting gas from that area to Zulia state, west Venezuela, DPA reported. Cira Ortiz, leader of a Wayúu indigenous...