Caracas, November 21, 2006 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Telesur journalist Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda was detained Sunday by Colombian security forces on charges of “rebellion and terrorism.” Muñoz was detained by the Colombian Administrative Department of Security (DAS) as he returned to Colombia, where he is a Telesur correspondent, from a visit to Venezuela.

DAS justified the arrest and detention as follows, “The District Attorney’s office saw merit in hearing [Muñoz] relation to a three year investigation forwarded to it by detectives of the DAS for terrorist attacks that occurred in 2002 in Barranquilla and Cartagena.” No evidence was presented in support of the claim.

Telesur vigorously defended Muñoz. Its president Andrés Izarra said that this was an attack on the credibility of Telesur and of Venezuela. “By chance, the most aggressive accusations and most harsh attacks that we have experienced at Telesur come from Colombia. At this point we don’t discount the detention of Fredy Muñoz, which came so surprisingly, could be linked to a dark source,” said Izarra.

Telesur has often had difficulties with the Colombian government. In 2005 Telesur broadcast a report on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which have been waging a 40-year guerrilla battle against the Colombian government. Both Colombian president Álvaro Uribe and the US government expressed their discomfort at the broadcasts.

Fredy Muñoz himself has rejected the charges and denounced his arrest as an attack on press freedom. In a message released from custody he said, “Colleagues and friends, from this physical enclosure I send my message of thanks to you all, for continuing to gamble life and liberty on the this necessary business.”

Muñoz also said that for the over 12 years he has been working as a journalist, he always “held in the center the peaceful solution to our differences.” He arrest, he said, is due to the fact that “paramilitarism continues to coerce and intimidate anyone who pronounces themselves against it.”

Telesur was created by the Venezuelan government to offer an alternative and progressive perspective from what it considered the North American slant on the Latin American news offered by broadcasters such as CNN in Spanish. The Latin American channel was launched in partnership between the governments of Venezuela (51%), Cuba (20%), Argentina (19%), and Uruguay (10%).

However, even organisations that have been critical of Venezuela joined in the condemnation yesterday. Reporters Without Borders has said that the arrest of Muñoz is a “simple case of misuse of power. If it turns out that it was indeed linked to the broadcast a year ago on Telesur of interviews with the guerrilla, then the Colombian government has made itself guilty of a press freedom violation. How can a journalist, interviewing an alleged terrorist become a terrorist in turn? If this is the argument, it is absurd and dangerous. Fredy Muñoz must be released.”

Izarra pointed out that there is reason to be concerned for Muñoz’s safety. Izarra cited an incident in which the same Barranquilla prosecutor’s office arrested Alfredo Correa, an academic from the Simon Bolivar University, who was accused of being an “ideologue” for the FARC. It took one month to clear him of all charges and shortly after he was released, he was assassinated, presumably by paramilitary soldiers.

Izarra further commented that it was odd that Muñoz was allowed to leave for Venezuela after the arrest warrant for issued for him on November 10 and was arrested only upon his return to Colombia.

Detention of Fredy Muñoz

URGENT ACTION:
Detention of Fredy Muñoz, correspondent in Colombia for CANAL TELESUR

On the evening of November 19, 2006, the journalist FREDY MUÑOZ ALTAMIRANDA, correspondent in Colombia for Canal TELESUR, was detained by agents from the Colombian secret police (DAS). He was detained as he returned to Colombia after participating in a TELESUR workshop that took place in Venezuel. The workshop was organised by one of the BBC’s US correspondents, Michael Cowgan. By order of the 5th District Attorney’s Office in Barranquilla (a city in Northern Colombia), FREDY was detained and accused of “rebellion”.

FREDY MUÑOZ has worked in journalism for the last twelve years. He was an editor for the newspapers El Universal and El Periódico, and was a reporter for the television news program 6:25 (all based in the Colombian city of Cartagena). He has also produced multiple documentaries for the Trópicos series and TeleCaribe, and audiovisual programming for the Leyendas series by Señal Colombia.

FREDY MUNOZ had recently reported on the issue of forced displacement in Colombia, the recent allegations made against General Jorge Daniel Castro regarding drug trafficking, and the negotiations occurring between the paramilitaries and the government.

This detention follows a pattern of persecution against independent journalists exercising their right to freedom of expression.

The following is the public communiqué issued by FREDY MUÑOZ from where he is being detained.

Dear colleagues and friends from throughout the world:

Once again, free and critical journalism is attacked by those who insist on subduing this journalism through the use of pressure, fear, lies, and force. On November 19, after having participated in a Telesur narrative audiovisual workshop by Michael Cowgan (a BBC journalist from North America) and Torry Zumbado (an independent cameraman from the war in Iraq), I returned to Colombia and was detained by the Colombian immigration offices, accused of rebellion and terrorism.

Hundreds of journalists from throughout the world, just as myself, have experienced this accusation, after US unilateralism decided to accuse to be terrorists those who oppose it with reason and arguments, and to exalt those who lower their heads, omit the crimes, and submit to it.

Colleagues and friends, from within this enclosed space, I send my message of thanks to all of you who continue to stake life and freedom in this vital profession, and in everyone else who engages with fervent struggle.

It is so ironic that while the judicial officers opened a file on me for charges very removed from the reality of my twelve years as a journalist, Colombian television transmitted a homage on the sacrificed Jaime Garzón, a journalist whose work aroused the rage and intolerance of a stubborn, detrimental authority, entrenched in the institutionality of the country.

The fact is a good journalist only knows how to speak and proclaim the truth; and, in our aggrieved Latin American countries, truth is the sun that reveals and removes men from the shadows.

Colleagues and friends, thank you again for adding my voice to yours. Thank you for insisting so that, even though these frame-ups occur so often, strength does not wane.

Thank you for teaching me not to falter, because performing journalism means making public what is not wanted to be known, everything else is propaganda. (Tayllerand)

With strong embrace,

Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda
Correspondent for Telesur in Colombia
November 20, 2006


Please write letters/emails to the Colombian Ambassador requesting the Colombian government to:
# Respect the life and physical and psychological integrity of Fredy Munoz Altamiranda

# Respect due process and the right to defense

# Respect the right to freedom of expression.


Please write to:

His Excellency Alfonso Lopez Caballero
Colombian Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Colombian Embassy
3 Hans Crescent
London
SW1X OLN

Or email:
 mail@colombianembassy.co.uk

Please copy letters/emails to:
Justice for Colombia
9 Arkwright Road
London
NW3 6AB

 info@justiceforcolombia.org