11 April 2010
Mauricio Moreno Medina
Knife attack
Indigenous journalist Mauricio Moreno Medina, the founding member of a community radio station for the Pijao indigenous people, was murdered by unknown assailants in his home, in the town of Ortega in Colombia's western Tolima department.
Medina, 50, died of multiple knife wounds. Police investigating the murder said they did not suspect a link with any illegal armed groups. They said Moreno had not received any death threats. But Reporters Without Borders (RSF) suggested the murder was more than a "crime of passion" as police concluded. "The label “crime of passion” is too often used to avoid investigation of any link with the victim’s work, even to the extent of covering up a case. This has already happened in several other murders of journalists in Colombia," it said. "As a director of a community radio, the kind of media often targeted by the authorities, particularly in conflict areas, Medina ran risks as a result of his work."
