09 February 2008
Manuel Arturo Macías Cerrera
Shooting
Journalist Manuel Arturo Macías Cerrera was shot in the head at 9:30 p.m. (local time) as he was going home on 9 February 2008 in Algeciras, a town in the department of Huila in central Colombia.
Taken to a local clinic, he died 10 minutes later. The assassins melted into the crowds gathered for a fireworks display celebrating the Feast of the Virgin of Lourdes. As well as directing the "Gente Nueva" programme, broadcast daily by Sur radio station, which is based in Neiva, the capital of Huila department, Macías Carrera was a founding member of the Journalists' Association of Huila (Asociación de Periodistas del Huila, ASPEHU), an affiliate of the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Federación Colombiana de Periodistas (FECOLPER).
Macías Carrera, 38 and the father of one child, had also been elected a town councillor, taking office on 1 January, as the only opposition councillor in Algeciras. He had begun his career as a journalist working for Radio Futuro station as a football commentator and news announcer. He later became director of Alfa Televisión television station.
He had also been a press chief for the town hall, and communications advisor for Huila department's Peace Advisory Office. He was close to former governor Jaime Losada, himself assassinated, and a cousin of former Algeciras mayor Álvaro Macías.
