Director-General condemns murder of Colombian journalist José Everardo Aguilar

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has condemned the brutal killing of Colombian journalist José Everardo Aguilar in the south western town of Patia, 450 kilometres south of the capital Bogotá, on 24 April.

According to Roy Greenslade:

Veteran Colombian journalist José Everardo Aguilar, a noted critic of official corruption, has been shot dead on his doorstep. The 72-year-old, who worked for several radio stations including Radio Súper Popayán, was killed when he answered the door of his home in Patia, 450 kms south of Bogotá, thinking it was a delivery man.

"This is the gravest in a series of attacks against colleagues all around the country," said Eduardo Márquez, president of the Federation of Colombian Journalists, which believes the murder is a tactic to silence the press.

Editor's note: Popayan is a beautiful small city full of buildings reflecting its colonial past, the capital of the Colombian state of Cauca. It seems so sad that the violence continues in Colombia, a land of such beauty whose citizens were so kind to me when I lived there. JAD