10 October 2008
Pablo Josué Cedeño Charry
Other accident
Journalist Pablo Josué Cedeño Charry, 62 years old, worked for the TV news programme, CNC Noticias, in the city of Buenaventura, main trade port of Colombia, a region in the country deeply stricken by poverty, corruption and violence.
Cedeño a father of five (four minors), was the bread-winner of his family. He worked for the media organization under a “contract for services”. He earned around 150USD monthly, had no health coverage, no pension plan nor life insurance.
On April 27th, Pablo suffered an accident while heading to cover a story on an assassination. To arrive to the scene, he had to pass by a small bridge in bad state. The bridge collapsed when Pablo walked over it with police agents also investigating the case.
The police officers also fell on him. He was taken to a university hospital, but was denied medical attention as he did not pay any type of medical plan. A few days later, Pablo suffered an infection and a diabetic coma that would last almost four months.
On October 5th, doctors assured they could not do anything to improve the journalist’s health condition. Pablo had to be taken to the home of a sister in law. His family was staying at his sister in law’s home. They had to abandon their house because they could not afford to pay rent.
On October 10th Pablo Cedeño passed away. He suffered a heart attack.
