The 36-year-old journalist had been threatened publicly by Carlos Castano, chief of the country's right-wing paramilitary groups known as the Self Defense Units of Colombia (AUC)

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Assassination of journalist intended to destabilise peace: Official

BOGOTA -- The assassination of the leading journalist Jaime Garzon was clearly intended to wreck plans to reach a negotiated settlement with leftist guerrillas, a senior official said Monday.

"It's clear this murder is part of a deliberate and systematic attempt to silence the voices of those fighting for peace and force us to abandon the path of dialogue for all-out war," said Alfredo Escobar, head of the office to combat kidnappings.

The political columnist and humorist was gunned down Friday on his way to work at local radio station Radionet by two men on a high-powered white motorcycle.

But Escobar refused to confirm who authorities thought was behind Friday's attack: the extreme right-wing, the extreme left-wing or elements seeking revenge for Garzon's sharp pen.

"The intelligence agencies are working on several theories, but at present we cannot confirm categorically that the attack was the work of one group or another," he said.

The 36-year-old journalist had been threatened publicly by Carlos Castano, chief of the country's right-wing paramilitary groups known as the Self Defense Units of Colombia (AUC).

Escobar revealed that he had frequently warned Garzon, also a key figure in the peace process, about the dangers of his position.

In particular, he stressed the risks of "the little-understood humanitarian job" performed by Garzon, who acted as a mediator with rebels in an attempt to get hostages freed.

"But he insisted that he would not sit with his arms crossed while people were being kidnapped and he continued bravely trying to free them," Escobar said.

The journalist had been seeking the release of 20 people held either by rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or the National Liberation Army when he was murdered, the official said.

But three days after the assassination, there were still no clear leads in the case.

"We haven't got any firm leads, but we're reviewing three scenarios and we won't rest until we've got the culprits," an official from the Metropolitan Police of Bogota told AFP.

The murder of the popular journalist prompted thousands of Colombians to crowd the main square in Bogota for his funeral Saturday and sparked protests around the country pressing for the end to the country's 35-year-old civil war. 
 

 

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