Linked with The Narco News Bulletin.
Listen to the 2.55 minutes spanish Interview, of 07.02.2006, with Hollman Morris on the website of Amnesty International, and its english transcript: Colombia is the world’s third most dangerous country for a journalist to work in according to Reporters Without Borders and New York’s Committee to Protect Journalists. Because of this, Colombian journalists censor themselves. They censor themselves in key issues: drug dealing, the armed conflict, human rights and corruption. Journalists in Colombia are giving up investigating and reporting on those issues because they run the risk of being threaten, killed or having to leave the country, as was my case. In June, the 24th of June if I remember correctly, when we were doing a documentary for the BBC in Putumayo, President Alvaro Uribe said that we knew in advance of an attack committed by the FARC in the Putumayo region, that we made deals with the guerrillas and that we had alliances with them. We denied it and even President Uribe had to denied it hours later President Uribe publicized those lies in all media outlets in Colombia. His retraction only appeared on a website, which didn’t have much publicity. In Colombia these kind of accusations and stigmatizations, particularly when I had received threats 15 days before, cost people’s lives. In Colombia people are killed for that. As long as President Alvaro Uribe doesn’t rectify his accusations properly, his words will cause me trouble. The bodyguards that the government gives me are worthless if the President himself says that I deal with the guerrillas. He puts my life in danger with those irresponsible accusations.
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Hollman Felipe Morris – Colombia
Hollman Morris, producer of the broadcast “ContravÌa” on public channel Canal Uno, a leading expert on the armed conflict and very critical of the government of Alvaro Uribe, received new death threats by e-mail on 27 September. The anonymous writers accused him of being a “guerillero” and an “anti-patriot”. His picture marked with a cross and the words “for very soon” figured on the heading of the message. Morris’s programme has not been broadcast on the first channel for the past two months, because of lack of funds. (full text).
Press targeted with threats, assaults and boycotts in run-up to regional elections. (full text, 28 September 2007).
He says: « Some friends have told me they can’t sleep afterwards, they feel hopeless, after watching CONTRAVIA. But I have a different reading. I think we feel hopeless because we are looking for hope from the big characters, or big theories or books. But I’ve learned walking the country that hope is in each of those community leaders. The person who builds a school, a cooperative, the activist who links movements in different reasons, the person who is trying to get the truth out. These leaders are a motive for hope. They are struggling for life. They are fighting for memory. The indigenous movement that is saying that Colombians must be dignified, recover land for everyone. The movement of victims, campesinos who are lifting their voices – for truth, justice, reparation despite the fact that the killers are in the government, in power, right now. They have the word and their memory and no other power. These are major motives for hope. And it’s not that different from other corners of Latin America: Oaxaca is not far away and we are part of that, too. (full long interview text, November 04, 2006).
Read about him on Google blog-search.
A video apparently produced by new paramilitary group, Frente Social por la Paz (Social Front for Peace), and distributed in the capital, Bogotá, identified journalist Hollman Morris, leftwing activist Gloria Cuartas and priest and human rights defender Javier Giraldo Moreno as “military targets”. Gloria Cuartas, a candidate in the recent elections, and Javier Giraldo Moreno have been outspoken critics of human rights violations by the security forces and paramilitary groups. Perceived ties to leftist guerrillas, government security forces, or paramilitary groups can put Colombian journalists at great risk. Accusations such as these are often used to undermine and discredit the work of human rights defenders and to silence journalists reporting on human rights abuses. (full text).
HOLLMAN FELIPE MORRIS: on tele antioquia.com;
(FLIP/IFEX) – On the night of 27 September 2007, journalist Hollman Morris, director of “Contravía” television programme, received a new death threat in his personal e-mail. The message, containing the comment, « for being a squealer, for being a guerrilla, it’s coming soon, » arrived with an attached electronic document containing a photograph of the journalist marked with an “x”. The threat was sent from an e-mail address of a group apparently calling itself the “Colombian Patriotic Front” (« Frente Patriótico Colombiano »). (full text).
The ACE Freedom Of The Press Award.
Morris, an independent journalist and producer of the weekly news show “Contravía” on television station Canal Uno, is recognized for his investigative reporting on Colombia’s civil conflict. He has been the subject of threats and harassment. In May 2005, Morris and two other well-known Colombian journalists received burial wreaths with cards expressing “sincere condolences.” Morris also received telephone death threats, but an investigation by the attorney general’s office reported no progress. The next month, when Morris was reporting for a BBC documentary, Colombian president Álvaro Uribe accused the journalist of being linked to the FARC in an interview with W Radio. Uribe later issued a retraction. (full text).
Meetings, events, demonstrations and film showings.
Human Rights Watch Honors Activists … Morris, a well-known television journalist, documentary filmmaker and writer who championed the victims of this political violence, runs a television show, « Contravia, » that investigates human rights abuses and addresses some of the most difficult and controversial issues in Colombian society. He practices journalism that is, says Morris, « motivated by hope, struggling for life and fighting for memory » … (full text, 11 Oct 2007).
Hollman Morris, refugiado por amenazas de paramilitares colombianos, opta a « periodista del año » de RSF.
Graduado de la Universidad Javeriana como Comunicador Social – Periodista, con un diplomado en DIH y DDHH, además de diferentes cursos en resolución de conflictos, HOLLMAN MORRIS se ha desempeñado como periodista durante más de 10 años acumulando en su trayectoria un amplio conocimiento en el tema de conflicto armado. En el campo radial trabajo como reportero para cadenas como RADIO SANTAFE y TODELAR en programas de debate y opinión. (full text).
Colombianos ameanos por todos os lados.
Hollman Felipe Morris, Colombie: Agé de 36 ans, Hollman Morris est devenu dans son pays, en proie à une guerre civile de plus de quarante ans, l’un des meilleurs spécialistes des thèmes des droits de l’homme et du processus de paix. En 2003, Hollman Morris a pris la direction du programme « Contravía » (« contre-sens »), dédié au traitement du conflit armé et des initiatives en faveur des droits de l’homme. L’émission, diffusée pour la première fois sur la chaîne publique Canal Uno, est en passe de reprendre après une période suspension. Car le travail d’investigation d’Hollman Morris lui vaut de solides inimitiés. Très critique envers le président Álvaro Úribe, dans le collimateur de tous les groupes armés, le journaliste a été la cible de menaces à répétition. (tout le texte, scroll down).
links:
Information Apartheid in Colombia;
Journalists Threatened, Oct. 3, 2007;
The 15th Reporters Without Borders – Fondation de France prize was presented in Paris on Tuesday, 12 December 2006;
El 15º Premio Reporteros sin Fronteras – Fundación de Francia entregado en París el martes 12 de diciembre de 2006.