Paramilitaries threaten to kill freelance photographer

[Judi Lynn]

Paramilitaries threaten to kill freelance photographer
Published on Tuesday 26 August 2014.



Juan Pablo Gutiérrez, a freelance photographer and indigenous rights defender with dual French and Colombian nationality, has been the target of death threats for the past two weeks. Unable to return to his home in central Colombia, he is waiting for the authorities to respond to his request for protection.

“You have just a few hours of life left,” said the noted signed by the paramilitary group Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) that Gutiérrez was handed on 14 August. The threat probably came from the same people who threatened him in September 2011 because of his reports designed to draw the public’s attention to the Nukak, an indigenous group in Colombia’s southeastern Amazonian region.

The Black Eagles are now accusing him of failing to comply with their earlier demands, above all that he should stop working with indigenous peoples and leave Colombia for good.

Gutiérrez works with the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) on documentation projects and photo campaigns about indigenous communities that are under threat. He also works with Amnesty International on photo campaigns in Colombia and France.

More:
http://en.rsf.org/colombia-paramilitaries-threaten-to-kill-26-08-2014,46850.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Unfortunately, he can probably kiss his ass goodbye.

Colombia is very journalist-assassination-tolerant. Doesn't seem to bother their officials a bit, especially when they are part of the plot to have them murdered.