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CPJ briefing on Colombia's worst enemy of the press

by Carlos Castaño, now available online by the Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today released a special report on right-wing paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño's brutal campaign against journalists in Colombia. The report, titled "Bad Press," is now available at www.cpj.org.

In the briefing, CPJ's Washington representative Frank Smyth details how Castaño-whose group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), was formally designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department this month --- uses violence, intimidation, and even murder to control the local media.

The ruthless, longtime leader of the AUC confessed earlier this year to having journalists killed. "Over the course of its existence the AUC has executed two local journalists who were in fact guerrillas," Castaño said.

In addition, Smyth writes that during the last two years "forces under Castaño's command have been linked to the murders of at least four journalists, the abduction and rape of one reporter, and threats against many others."

At the same time, the paramilitary leader has launched a charm offensive by using the same local press he attacks to bolster his public image. He has made himself freely available to both domestic and foreign reporters, garnering major public attention in the process.

In May 2001, CPJ named Carlos Castaño one of the world's 10 worst enemies of the press. "Bad Press" reveals in vivid detail why he received that dubious honor.

For the complete report and for more information on press issues in Colombia, visit www.cpj.org.

(CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.)