Strangling the Voice of Truth

Last week, Gerardo Bedoya, the chief editorial writer of El Pais in Cali, Colombia, was shot to death as he left his home, becoming the second journalist killed in Colombia this month. Forty-two Colombian reporters and editors have been killed in the last 10 years, making the country the most dangerous place for journalists in the Americas. The administration of President Ernesto Samper must act promptly and visibly against this outrage.

Bedoya, a prominent lawyer and economist who had also been a congressman and later an ambassador to the European Community, was dogged in uncovering what he charged were ties between Samper administration politicians and Colombia’s cocaine cartels.

A no-nonsense writer, he had advocated the extradition to the United States of Colombian nationals accused of drug crimes and had, against the political tide in his own country, defended the U.S. decision to decertify Colombia in the international fight against drug traffickers.

A week before Bedoya’s murder, Freddy Elles Ahumada, a photographer for the Bogota newspaper El Espectador, was found slain. He had been tortured, stabbed and shot several times. It’s still not clear whether his death was related to his work, but both his murder and Bedoya’s have come at a time of increasing threats against Colombia’s courageous journalists and newspapers.

In one of his last columns, Bedoya wrote: “The narcos have corrupted the state, the government and society. They have discredited us before the world.” He was a patriot and a prosecutor of the best sort. Now Samper should show what kind of president he is, or can be.