NewsLatin AmericaDespite threats, flawed protection

Despite threats, flawed protection

With his incessant denunciations of acts of corruption and illegalities, the journalist Rafael Moreno became a nuisance to many influential people in the province of Cordoba. The threats accumulated until in 2017 when he first requested the support of the National Protection Unit (UNP), since at that time he felt threatened for being the president of the Community Action Board – a local solidarity organization – of Puerto Libertador, his hometown.

The UNP is a security agency that reports to the Colombian Ministry of the Interior. It is in charge of coordinating the protection and escort of journalists or communities threatened by their work, whether political, judicial, journalistic, union, community, economic or other.

In Colombia, more than 10,000 people are under the protection of the UNP at the individual level, and another 50,000 have precautionary measures at the collective level, according to official figures reported by Augusto Rodriguez, the director of the organization. In the province of Cordoba, where Rafael Moreno came from, 202 people benefit from protection by this body.

However, relations between the UNP and the journalist became tense. In 2021, the UNP suspended its support, alleging that Moreno had had an “abusive use of protection measures.” On several occasions, the journalist asked that this revocation be re-evaluated, since he continued to receive intimidation.

In 2022, the threats became more serious. In July, two months before his murder, the journalist discovered a letter with a death threat and a bullet in the box of his motorcycle. “You think you are untouchable because you speak in public, but here nobody is (…) we know everything about you and we will not forgive you for what you do.” The UNP took up his case and once again gave him a bodyguard.

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The anonymous note and the bullet found by Rafael Moreno on July 21, 2022 in the trunk of his motorcycle.Complaint by Rafael Moreno

On the day of his murder, Rafael Moreno was alone in the restaurant he managed in Montelibano. In a statement, the UNP indicated that the journalist had fired his escort the morning of the previous day. According to our sources, the guard disappeared before informing his hierarchy about what had happened, two days after the murder. Forbidden Stories tried to contact him, to no avail.

“The person responsible for the use of a protection system is the protected person and if he asks the protection guard to leave the place, the UNP contracting company is not responsible for this decision,” the UNP responds to requests of the consortium In turn, he admits that there has been « glaring flaws » in the journalist protection system. “Nothing is perfect, we have to have a vision of the future and modernize the entire entity,” acknowledges Augusto Rodriguez, director of the UNP, in an interview with the consortium.

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