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Alert

Group of hitmen says that paramilitaries paid them to kill journalist Jaime Garzon

(IPYS/IFEX) - The hypothesis that Colombian journalist and humourist Jaime Garzon, who was murdered in Bogotá on 13 August 1999, was killed at the behest of paramilitaries is gaining more and more credibility. Last night, on the television news programme Canal Caracol, the leader of the hit squad called "La Terraza" acknowledged having murdered Garzon.




The hired assassin's face was covered with a ski-mask when he told the programme's host that the Garzon crime was carried out on orders of Carlos Castaño Gil, the head of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC), who paid the murderers thirty million pesos (approximately US$15,000).

One year later, no one has been punished for the versatile celebrity's murder, much like the majority of journalists killed in Colombia. The Public Prosecutor's Office has investigated more than fourteen hypotheses surrounding the murder.

The statements of the hitmen who form "La Terraza" - a feared criminal group in Medellín, north-eastern region of Colombia - have given further credence to the initial hypothesis that Garzon might have been gunned down on orders of the "paras", as paramilitary groups are known in Colombia. Days before his death, Garzon had told his relatives and close friends that he was terrified of being killed by Castaño.

Attorney General Alfonso Gomez Méndez said last night on Canal Caracol that if the members of "La Terraza" were willing to collaborate to have the journalist's murder solved, it would be necessary for them to bring forth the required proof.

Garzon was murdered on 13 August 1999 at around 6:00 a.m. (local time), as he was making his way to work at the Radionet radio station in his Cherokee vehicle, in south-western Bogotá. Two assassins on a motorcycle opened fire on him. Up until now, the Public Prosecutor's Office has pointed toward Castaño as being behind the order to kill the journalist. For his part, the paramilitary chief claims that he had nothing to do with the crime.

Ten journalists have been killed in Colombia this year. Many others have been kidnapped, censored or pressured by people involved in the country's civil war.

Recommended Action

Send appeals to authorities:

• demanding that investigations into the murder be increased in order to identify and punish the true perpetrators of Garzon's murder
  

Appeals To

Andrés Pastrana Arango 
President of the Republic
Kra.8 n.7-26 Santa Fe de Bogotá 
Fax: +571 286 74 34/286 79 37/284 21 86 

Alfonso Gomez Méndez 
Attorney General 
(Fax unavailable)

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.