Colombian journalist found dead in conflict-hit region weeks before election

 

BOGOTA, May 9 — A 25-year-old Colombian journalist was found dead yesterday in a restive northwestern region where guerrillas, drug traffickers and illegal gold miners are active, President Gustavo Petro said.

Mateo Perez went missing on Tuesday while he was working in a rural part of Antioquia department about five hours’ drive north of Medellin in the run-up to the presidential election on May 31.

His body was found in an area where dissident members of the defunct guerrilla group FARC and drug traffickers from Colombia’s biggest cartel, the Gulf Clan, operate.

In a post on X, Petro blamed the killing on Jhon Edison Chala Torrejano, a guerrilla leader who the president said is seeking to control the illicit gold mining trade in the region.

The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) condemned the killing, calling Perez, who ran the online news outlet El Confidente de Yarumal, a “vital voice for the local community.”

His work focused mainly on crime, security, politics and corruption.

“Mateo faced legal pressure (…) for his investigations into illicit economies linked to armed groups,” it said.

The area where Perez’s body was found is a “disputed zone,” fought over by FARC dissidents and the Gulf Clan, according to FLIP.

Journalists in Colombia are constantly under threat from armed groups that control vast territories, where they derive their income from cocaine trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.

Colombia has experienced a surge in guerrilla attacks in the run-up to this month’s election.

At least 170 journalists have been killed in the country since 1977, according to FLIP.

Petro halted peace negotiations with the FARC dissident group on April 21. But the government remains in talks with the Gulf Clan, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States. — AFP