Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Colombian authorities on Friday to do everything in their power to solve the brutal killing of a presenter and director of a local radio station in the northwest of the country and bring to justice the offenders. They strongly condemned the crime, emphasizing that the journalist’s work as a victim could serve as a possible motive.
Steven Andrés Fajardo, a 39-year-old presenter and director of local radio station the Triunfadora Stereo in the municipality of Puerto Triunfo, was killed by unknown assailants on November 21. Reportedly, an unknown man arrived and shot the announcer several times, when he was passing by a chain store in the town center of Doradal, in the same municipality. The injuries were so severe that Fajardo could not be transferred to the hospital and died instantly.
Although the murder of Fajardo gave rise to condemnation among the population, relevant investigations are still underway. It has been disclosed that the announcer was the subject of a previous attempted murder six years prior. The authorities did not disclose any other details about the motives of the attack or those responsible.
Artur Romeu, director of RSF’s Latin America Bureau emphasized that the investigation must among other things “be exhaustive in order to identify the perpetrators of this targeted murder as quickly as possible”. He urged Colombian President Gustavo Petro to “take up this case to bring justice to the family and friends of Steven Andrés Fajardo.”
Despite a commitment of the Colombian president, made in August, that his cabinet would be directly involved in providing an expeditious response to the most serious acts of violence against journalists, there were documented repeated and intensified efforts to suppress press freedom, freedom of expression, and the right to information, that thereby undermine democracy in Colombia.
Menaces directed at Colombia’s investigative journalists, documented by RSF since September, include death threats and judicial harassment aimed at delegitimizing the work of investigative magazines. Steven Andrés Fajardo is reported to be the third journalist murdered in Colombia in 2024.
